Jammu, Aug 6: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah downplayed the row over PDP president Mehbooba Mufti allegedly holding the national flag upside down, saying he believed it was an inadvertent mistake and not a deliberate act.
The controversy erupted after People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was seen holding an inverted national flag during a protest in Srinagar on Tuesday night.
Mehbooba led party leaders and workers at a sit-in outside the PDP office to protest against the Centre’s removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomous status through abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35-A in August 2019.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of his visit to flood-ravaged Surankote tehsil in Poonch district, Abdullah said he cannot accept that someone who has served as the chief minister would deliberately display the national flag upside down.
“You have to ask this question to her (Mehbooba). I believe the incident involving the national flag must have been a mistake. I cannot accept that someone who has served as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir would deliberately display the national flag upside down,” Abdullah said.
The chief minister said if the flag was held upside down inadvertently, the mistake should simply be acknowledged.
“I do not think it was done intentionally,” he said.
During the sit-in, Mehbooba held the national flag and the flag of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the national flag was erroneously held upside down.
An incorrect display of the national flag — such as inverted colours, wrong proportions or damaged fabric — violates the Flag Code of India.
According to the rules, the top band must always be saffron, the middle white with a 24-spoke navy blue Ashoka Chakra, and the bottom green. ( PTI )
