New Delhi, January 22
Lal Chowk in Srinagar, named by Sheikh Abdullah after the Red Square in Moscow, has witnessed many tense moments and history unfolding itself. This is where the first elected Prime Minister of the state, deeply influenced by Leftist thinking, addressed large, political rallies and since then the square has occupied a larger than life image in the state’s politics.

A defiant BJP on Saturday brushed aside appeals for restraint and reiterated its resolve to carry on with its ‘Ekta Yatra’, which began from Kolkata on January 12, culminating with flag-hoisting at the Lal Chowk on the Republic Day.

The Yatra left Chandigarh for Jalandhar on Saturday and it is expected to enter J & K on Monday. While the BJP has permission to hold a rally at Jammu on Tuesday, police has sealed the entry points on Punjab-Jammu border, indicating the state government’s resolve to stop it from proceeding to the Valley, if not turn it away from the border itself.

The Tricolour has not been unfurled at the Lal Chowk before 1991 and after 2008.It was not strictly an official function but security personnel posted there would hoist the flag on Republic Day and Independence Day. While the official function would be held in the Bakshi Stadium, a kilometre away, under strict security, CRPF jawans and the police maintained a strict vigil at the chowk. On a number of occasions they were forced to unfurl the National Flag hurriedly, long before the appointed time, either because of the compulsion to repulse attacks by militants or deal with crowds that would materialise out of nowhere to unfurl their own flags.

For the media, it was Lal Chowk, which had witnessed some of the most spectacular strikes by militants, that held out the promise of drama on such occasions. Even as security personnel remained on guard, their fingers on the trigger, TV crew would hover around. There would always be an air of anticipation and suspense with supporters of separatists raising slogans in the lanes all around the chowk, which is surrounded by densely populated areas.

Those who have been in Srinagar during Republic Day are familiar with the curfew-like situation in the capital city and the tension in the air. On August 15, 2008, the CRPF jawans were forced to remove the Tricolour when the protesters overran Lal Chowk.