High drama at Jammu airport
Swaraj, Jaitley stopped; sit on dharna
PTI
JAMMU/NEW DELHI, JAN 24
On a day of high drama, senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar were today stopped at Jammu airport ahead of the party’s march to Srinagar to hoist the tricolour on Republic Day and later taken out of the state to Punjab by road.
The three leaders, who flew in here on a chartered plane, were not allowed to leave the airport for over five hours and they staged a dharna on the tarmac in protest.
Later in the evening, they were driven to Madhopur in Punjab. Swaraj, in a late night tweet, said the security personnel had told them that they were “under arrest” but the State Government denied it.
Jammu District Magistrate entered the aircraft and told the BJP leaders that they cannot enter the city to address tomorrow a rally in the city, one of the stops on the party’s controversial Ekta Yatra which is slated to culminate on Republic Day with the party hoisting the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
Refusing to fly back to Delhi, the BJP trio sat on a dharna on the tarmac after they were allowed to deplane.
As word spread about their detention, hundreds of BJP supporters outside the airport raised slogans against the Omar Abdullah government. Over 50 BJP activists were taken into custody for violating prohibitory orders.
“It is a draconian situation here. They have created an almost Emergency-like situation. We will not accept this order as we are free citizens of India and entitled to land in Jammu”, Kumar said.
The BJP is in no mood to back off from its decision to hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk on Wednesday.
Home Minister P Chidambaram today spoke to Jaitley and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in an attempt to defuse the situation.
Chidambaram said he had asked for the BJP leaders to be given access to the airport lounge. He asked Jaitley to respect the wishes of the Chief Minister and return to Delhi.
Omar told the Home Minister that the leaders would not be allowed to attend the public rally in Jammu.
As requested by Chidambaram, Omar agreed to send State Chief Secretary S S Kapoor and DGP Kuldip Khoda to talk to Jaitley and Swaraj and persuade them to abandon their plan.
Efforts are also being made to allow Jaitley and Swaraj to speak to a small group of people and a few journalists before their return to the national capital, sources said.
Both the Centre and the Omar Government have asked the BJP not to precipitate the situation in the State. On its part, BJP charged them with “surrendering” to separatists who have vowed not to allow the tricolour to be hoisted on Janaury 26 at Lal Chowk.
BJP’s key ally JD(U) today pressed the saffron party to drop its flag hoisting plan in Srinagar given the kind of ‘tension’ prevailing in the Valley.
“Given the kind of tension that is prevailing in the Valley, this ‘yatra’ has no meaning and I don’t support this”, Bihar Chief Minister and top JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar said in Patna when asked about his views on BJP’s plan.
