Rahul Gandhi was able to unfurl tricolour because PM Modi brought peace to the valley: BJP leader Raina

Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Sunday said the credit for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi unfurling the national flag at the historic Lal Chowk in Srinagar goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who “normalised” the situation in the Valley with the abrogation of Article 370.

Gandhi on Sunday unfurled the national flag at the historic clock tower of Lal Chowk, popularly known as ‘Ghanta Ghar’, as part of his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

“Rahul Gandhi unfurled the tricolour at Lal Chowk and he was able to do it because of the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who dealt a severe blow to separatism and terrorism by abrogating Article 370 (in 2019) and strengthened nationalist forces, paving way for the normalisation of the situation and return of peace to the region,” Raina said here.

He said the Congress ruled the country for the most part of the past seven decades but none of its leaders “dared to unfurl the tricolour” at Lal Chowk.

Modi, along with the then BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi, unfurled the national flag at the same venue when terrorism was at its peak in 1990, he said.

“Today, peace and normalcy have returned to Kashmir due to the efforts of Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Gandhi was able to move to Lal Chowk and unfurl the tricolour which none of his party leaders could do in the past 70 years,” the BJP leader said.

Referring to the recent statement of AICC in-charge J-K Rajni Patil that Gandhi will unfurl the national flag at the party headquarters rather than Lal Chowk which is the agenda of the RSS, Raina said, “Though late, the Congress has started working on the nationalist agenda of the RSS…We want to tell Gandhi and his party leaders to learn from the RSS members who have nationalist sentiments in their hearts and work for the nation.”