A major controversy has erupted in Jammu and Kashmir after the national emblem on a plaque inside Srinagar’s revered Hazratbal shrine was vandalized on Friday. On Saturday, Ladakh lieutenant governor Kavinder Gupta condemned the act, calling it “vandalism” and promising strict action against those responsible. In a social media post, Gupta said he was “deeply anguished” by the incident.
However, former J&K CM Omar Abdullah took a different line, questioning why the emblem had been placed inside the shrine in the first place. “The plaque should not have been placed inside the shrine. The national emblem is used for government functions, not religious places,” Omar remarked. Notably, J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, who oversees law and order in the union territory, has so far remained silent on the issue.
The row quickly took a political turn. The National Conference (NC) demanded the removal of Waqf Board chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi, who was appointed in 2022 by the Union minority affairs ministry. At a press conference, NC legislators accused Andrabi of “planting the crisis in Kashmir” to benefit the BJP electorally in Bihar. NC’s Tanvir Sadiq said that police had registered an open FIR and expressed hope that it would include Andrabi for “violating the Constitution” by placing the emblem in the shrine. NC leader Salman Sagar added that the BJP deliberately installed a party politician as waqf chairperson to “control our religious places.”
The BJP, on its part, strongly backed Andrabi. J&K BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur compared those who defaced the emblem to Osama bin Laden, warning, “No one should dare to deface our Ashoka Chakra.”
With an FIR registered, political tensions remain high, even as calls grow for accountability over both the vandalism and the decision to install the emblem at Hazratbal in the first place.
