For 5 years,he unfurled the Tricolour at Lal Chowk

While in 1992,Joshi, along with a handful of BJP leaders,was airlifted to Srinagar and unfurled the flag under tight security,Gupta and his “boys” played hide-and-seek with the security establishment to be able to carry out their “mission”.

“The first time,we were around 3,500-4,000 Indians who were proceeding to Kashmir. We were stopped and detained at Udhampur — about 80 kms from Jammu. After we were released in the evening and told to go back to Jammu,I and six-seven other activists managed to sneak into Srinagar,and on January 26,at 12 noon,we reached Lal Chowk and started raising pro-India slogans. The shops were closed as the Valley was shut down on the call of the separatists. But,immediately after we hoisted the flag,we were bundled into cars and left near the Banihal Tunnel. When I returned to Jammu,I held a press conference to ask the militants to send me the reward money. While the money didn’t come,I received death threats from the JKLF,” he said.

He added,with considerable pride,that even the “BBC London” broadcast news of his “daring act” on January 26,1994.

“Thereafter,every year,we repeated the job. Once,five or six of us simply caught the Indian Airlines flight to Srinagar for the purpose. But,it was never our intention to cause any rift between Hindus and Muslims. In fact,a lot of our members are Muslims. We once stayed at a Kashmiri Muslim family’s house in Anantnag for two days before the D-Day. That it why I think,the BJP yatra is misguided,” he said.

Gupta is not too enthused by the BJP youth wing’s latest programme to unfurl the national flag at Lal Chowk. “While their (BJP) stand that since Kashmir is an integral territory of India,there shouldn’t be any bar on hoisting the flag at Lal Chowk is correct,I am not sure what purpose will be achieved by doing so at this juncture when the state is trying to come out of the shadows of armed conflict. I think the BJP has made its point and should now accept the request of the state and central governments and give up the Yatra without precipitating matters,” he said.

He added that successive governments in the state have failed to bring Kashmir closer to India. “Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is also playing partisan politics when he asks the BJP to give up its yatra. He is only trying to hide the failures of his government,” he said.

Asked if he would “take up the challenge” of hoisting the flag at Lal Chowk again,he replied: “Maybe next year or the year after. Who knows?”