‘Glorifying rioters': BJP, NC face off over Martyrs' Day tribute; Jallianwala Bagh comparison sparks row
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday accused Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah of glorifying rioters and rewriting history after he compared the July 13, 1931, killings in Srinagar to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Every year, July 13 is observed by many in J&K as Martyrs' Day to remember the 22 people shot dead by the Dogra army outside Srinagar's central jail. However, the day was removed from the list of public holidays by the Lieutenant Governor-led administration in 2020 after the region's reorganisation in 2019.
In a post on X, Abdullah had said, '13th July massacre is our Jallianwala Bagh. The people who laid down their lives did so against the British.
What a shame that true heroes who fought British rule are today projected as villains only because they were Muslims.'
The BJP criticised the comparison sharply with BJP national general secretary and J&K in-charge Tarun Chugh saying, 'That was colonial brutality against unarmed civilians. July 13 was a communal mob trying to destroy order. Don't twist facts.'
Chugh also claimed that the event was being used to whitewash violence and blamed Abdullah for ignoring the 1990 forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.
He accused the National Conference of glorifying Abdul Qadeer, calling him a British agent who incited the mob in 1931. 'This is not martyrdom. This is political fraud,' Chugh said.
He added that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the BJP would continue to tell history as it happene and would work towards the justice and return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
J&K deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary responded by accusing the BJP of using communal politics.
'They are misleading the public. Talking against Kashmir gives them political benefit in Jammu,' he said.
The political tension came after several leaders claimed they were placed under house arrest on Saturday to prevent them from visiting the graves of the 1931 victims. The Srinagar administration had officially denied permission to political groups to gather at the Naqshband Sahib Martyrs' Graveyard.
Abdullah called the move 'blatantly undemocratic' and said that locking elected representatives in their homes and sealing graveyards was an attack on democracy. 'We will not forget their sacrifices,' he said.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the mistrust between Delhi and Kashmiris will truly end only when India accepted Kashmiri "martyrs" as their own.
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