Peoples Democratic President (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has said the Modi-led Indian government is forcing people to buy the India flag for the Har Ghar Tiranga’ [Indian flag at every home] campaign and asserted that “patriotism cannot be imposed”.
The campaign has been launched to force the citizens to hoist the Indian flag in their homes from August 13 to 15 as part of the India’s independence day celebrations in the name ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
In a video shared by Mufti on Twitter, a public announcement is being made from a loudspeaker fixed atop a vehicle of the Bijbehara municipality in south Kashmir’s Islamabad district asking shopkeepers in the area to deposit Rs 20 each for buying an Indian flag for the campaign.
The manner in which, she added, the Modi regime is forcing students, shopkeepers and employees to pay for Indian flag to hoist it is as if Kashmir is an enemy territory that needs to be captured. “Patriotism comes naturally and cannot be imposed,” Mufti said.
In the announcement in Kashmiri, the locals were told that “action can be taken against them” if they refuse to join the campaign.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba Mufti on Monday lashed out at the outgoing Indian president Ram Nath Kovind for fulfilling the BJP’s political agenda at the cost of the Indian Constitution. “The outgoing president leaves behind a legacy where the Indian Constitution was trampled upon umpteenth times,” said Mufti.
Mufti mentioned the scrapping of Article 370, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the “unabashed targeting of minorities and Dalits” in the country while slamming the former president.—KMS
