Ekta yatra: India is not a banana republic, will hoist flag, vows Jaitley

Both the BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj today slammed the Omar Abdullah-led J&K government for stopping them from entering Jammu and also rejected Centre's appeal to turn back.

Clearly miffed at being arrested in Jammu yesterday yet not being allowed to stay in the state, which dampened the 'ekta yatris' spirits, Swaraj said that she was told a lie that the BJP leaders were being taken to jail and yet they were unceremoniously dumped in Punjab.

The Opposition leader now says that the Centre or state government must either arrest the BJP 'ekta yatris' in Jammu or they be allowed to hoist the flag.

She says there is no middle ground on this.

They have vowed to go ahead with the proposed flag hoisting at Srinagar's Lal Chowk tomorrow and thereby successfully conclude their 'ekta yatra'.

"We will head towards Jammu and then towards Kashmir Valley for hoisting national flag at Lal Chowk along with hundreds of our activists. Where ever they stop us, we will sit there on a dharna till January 26," Swaraj told reporters.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said, "We will not leave till 6 p.m. tomorrow. We will sit on dharna till then. If they want to arrest us, they can do so at any place."

Swaraj along with Jaitley and former Union Minister Ananth Kumar were sent back from Jammu and dropped on the bridge over Ravi river at Punjab's border at Madhopur near here late last night.

Jaitley said Home Minister P Chidambaram had phoned him at Jammu airport yesterday asking him to fly back to Delhi saying they had made their point.

"We are not a banana republic... the way we were detained. They cannot physically throw us out like that. I informed the Home Minister regarding this to which he said that he would look into it," Jaitley said.

... contd.

ALSO READ

No rift with Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh to stay PM till General Elections 2014: Cong

Digvijay Singh takes a dig at judiciary for calling CBI a caged parrot

Siddaramaiah takes charge as K'taka CM, unveils Rs 4,409.81 crore bonanza for poor

Narendra Modi addresses Indians in US, calls UPA a weak government