It almost appears like a calibrated and sustained assault on J&Ks special status within Indian Union. The High Court Division Benchs stay on its own single benchs order requiring that the state flag be given the same respect as the national flag has again confronted the J&K with a fresh challenge to its already eroded autonomous status in India. The stay has only bolstered and provided legal validity to the BJP position that only national flag will fly on official installations and vehicles. Earlier, Justice Hasnain Masoodi had directed the state government to adhere to and abide by mandate and spirit of Section 144, Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and hoist the state flag on all official buildings and vehicles of the constitutional authorities. But acting on a petition filed by the retired Inspector General of Police and BJP national secretary Farooq Khan, the division bench comprising Justice B L Bhat and Justice Tashi Rabstan stayed the operation of the judgment.
Where do we go from here? Does it mean that henceforth it will not be obligatory for the constitutional authorities in the state to hoist both the flags together? The answer to this question is in the affirmative. The High Court stay on such obligation which came within days of its single bench order mandating that the two flags will fly has altered the significance of the state flag. And this is what should be a cause of deep concern for the people of the state. Albeit discreetly, BJP has expectedly spoken in favour of the stay but PDP has chosen to play it down. As union minister and BJP leader Jitendra Singh said in his response to the court stay: Notwithstanding everything else, the immediate responsibility of all of us is to respect the orders of the court. In contrast, the PDP said the states flag was not in conflict with the national flag and both will be respected in the state. Unlike BJP which got one of its leaders to challenge single bench order, PDP looks resigned to the court stay and its profound implications.
The opposition National Conference, on the contrary has, as always, content itself with a Twitter tirade against the stay. Its leader and the former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted a flurry of tweets against the nefarious plans of BJP to dilute J&K special status, the most defiant of which said that so long as J&K is a part of India the two flags will continue to fly & we’ll take pride in it. But the party has done little more than this: no rally, no protest, not even a press conference. This kind of political cop-out is in indefensible against the silent but inexorable assault on the constitutional fundamentals of J&Ks place within Indian Union.
But PDP by virtue of its alliance with BJP shoulders the more responsibility. If we go by the operation of the coalition government over the past ten months, PDP has played along submissively while as a resurgent BJP has gone ahead with the execution of its political agenda on the state. And as the flag controversy has once again underlined, neither PDP nor NC seem ready to take firm steps to halt the BJP juggernaut in Valley. People in the state certainly need the two parties to step up and safeguard the states special constitutional status in the country. Further procrastination will be a sign of collusion in the sinister process.
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