Hazratbal row: BJP wants action; it's not a place for emblem, says Omar

SRINAGAR: Ladakh lieutenant governor Kavinder Gupta Saturday promised strict action against those who had defaced the national emblem on a plaque placed inside Srinagar's revered Hazratbal shrine on Friday, while J&K CM Omar Abdullah said "the plaque should not have been placed inside the shrine".

Gupta's social media post that he was "deeply anguished" by the "vandalism" came after Omar said the emblem is used for govt functions, not at religious places. Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha, who heads law and order has not issued any statement on the issue so far.

Jammu and Kashmir's governing NC demanded that Waqf Board chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi be sacked and that they would ask the Assembly to constitute a House committee to probe alleged bungling in the Waqf Board from 2022, when the minority affairs ministry had appointed the BJP politician (Andrabi) as waqf board chairperson.

On Saturday evening, NC legislators held a press conference at the party headquarters where they accused Andrabi of "planting the crisis in Kashmir" to help her party win polls in Bihar. NC legislator Tanvir Sadiq said J&K police have filed an open FIR in the case. "I'm hopeful that it is against Darakhshan Andrabi for violating the Constitution regarding placing the national emblem," Sadiq said. NC legislators Salman Sagar said BJP has deliberately appointed a BJP politician as waqf chairperson to "control our religious places."

BJP's J&K unit backed Andrabi as party spokesperson Altaf Thakur linked those involved in defacing the emblem with Osama bin Laden. "No one should dare to deface our Ashoka Chakra (sic)".