speaking at Lal Chowk in 1975 Lal Chowk was the location where
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first
Prime Minister of India, unfurled the
Indian national flag in 1948, shortly after the country gained independence from the
British Empire. Joshi hoisted the flag in the company of
Indian troops. Since then, the Indian
Border Security Force and
Central Reserve Police Force undertook the hoisting ceremony until 2009, when they announced that continuing the ritual was unnecessary because the tower "had no political significance". Following this, official ceremonies were held at the nearby
Bakshi Stadium in Wazir Bagh
, Srinagar, on
Republic Day and
Independence Day.
1993 Lal Chowk fire In 1993, there was an
arson attack on the main commercial centre of downtown Srinagar. The fire was alleged to have been started by a crowd incited by
separatist militants. The civilians and police officials interviewed by
Human Rights Watch and other international organizations alleged that the Indian
Border Security Force (BSF) set fire to the locality, apparently in retaliation for the burning of an abandoned BSF building by the residents. Over 125 Kashmiri civilians were killed in the incident.
2011 Republic Day In 2011, the
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced its plan to start a march called E
ktha Yatra from
Kolkata,
West Bengal, to
Srinagar. The purpose of the march was to unite Indians on the
Kashmir issue and challenge pro-Pakistan separatists by hoisting the
flag of India atop the tower in Lal Chowk on 26 January 2011—India's
Republic Day. This move was reportedly intended to serve as a response to
Kashmiri insurgents. The march was opposed by the
Indian National Congress and the
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, who were fearful that it might fuel further unrest in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Following the announcement by the BJYM, the central government took various countermeasures to stop the planned march. Trains carrying BJYM members to Srinagar were stopped and sent back to their locations of departure. While the majority of BJYM members failed to reach the
Kashmir Valley, top BJP leaders, namely
Sushma Swaraj and
Arun Jaitley, continued to lead the march until they were stopped while attempting to enter
Jammu & Kashmir from
Punjab via a bridge crossing the
Ravi River on 25 January 2011. All BJP members in the rally were subsequently arrested and kept in custody in the city of
Jammu until the end of formalities on Republic Day. Indian security forces were instructed to heavily cordon off Lal Chowk on Republic Day. However, some BJP activists reached Srinagar and hoisted the Indian flag near the city square, although they failed to reach their intended destination on top of the clock tower. Sushma Swaraj, upon her arrest by security forces, said: "Why are we being arrested? We were marching peacefully. Those who burn the national flag are being provided security, while those holding the national flag are being stopped." Arun Jaitley said, "For the first time after independence, hoisting the national tricolour has become illegal in our country."
29 January 2023 On this day,
Rahul Gandhi unfurled national tricolour in Lal Chowk as the
party's mass outreach program "
Bharat Jodo Yatra" was one day left to end in Srinagar. The
Bharat Jodo Yatra was completed on 30 January 2023, after unfurled
National Tricolour was unfurled by
Rahul Gandhi in
Sher-E-Kashmir Stadium, Srinagar. ==See also==