Har Ghar Tiranga: Rahul Gandhi, Mehbooba Mufti play politics over tricolour; BJP slams move as ‘anti-India’

New Delhi: Politics has erupted over 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign with Opposition leaders taking a swipe at the Centre's campaign.

Taking to Twitter, former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, "changed my DP since a flag is a matter of joy & pride. For us, our state flag was irreversibly linked to the Indian flag. It was snatched thus breaking away the link. You may have robbed us of our flag but can't erase it from our collective conscience."

Changed my dp since a flag is a matter of joy & pride.For us our state flag was irreversibly linked to the Indian flag. It was snatched thus breaking away the link. You may have robbed us of our flag but cant erase it from our collective conscience. pic.twitter.com/HZxQROn3fK

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) August 3, 2022

As part of the campaign being organised to mark 75 years of Indian independence, prime minister Narendra Modi and several BJP leaders made the 'tiranga' their profile picture on social media platforms. A separate flag for J&K ceased to exist after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Apart from Mufti, Congress and a host of its leaders on Wednesday changed their social media display pictures to an image of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru holding the national flag. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and the party's social media accounts put a photograph of Nehru with the tricolour as their display picture.

देश की शान है, हमारा तिरंगा हर हिंदुस्तानी के दिल में है, हमारा तिरंगा pic.twitter.com/lhm0MWd3kM — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 3, 2022

The image, likely photoshopped, was the same -- a black and white photograph of Nehru looking at the flag, in colour, in his hand.

"Our Tiranga is the pride of our country, the Tiranga is in the heart of every Indian," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet as he changed the display picture of his social media accounts, including Twitter, to reflect the image of Nehru holding the national flag.

Ramesh took a dig at the prime minister, asking if the organisation that did not hoist the national flag at its headquarters in Nagpur will comply with his "order" to make the 'tiranga' the profile picture of social media accounts.

तिरंगा हमारे दिल में है, लहू बनकर हमारी रगों में है। 31 दिसंबर, 1929 को पंडित नेहरू ने रावी नदी के तट पर तिरंगा फहराते हुए कहा था, ‘अब तिरंगा फहरा दिया है, ये झुकना नहीं चाहिए'

आइए हम सब देश की अखंड एकता का संदेश देने वाले इस तिरंगे को अपनी पहचान बनाएं।जय हिंद#MyTirangaMyPride pic.twitter.com/NwgIMUHpp4

— Congress (@INCIndia) August 3, 2022

"In the Lahore session of 1929, while hoisting the flag on the banks of river Ravi, Pandit Nehru said, 'Once again you have to remember that this flag has now been hoisted. As long as there is a single Indian man, woman, child alive, this tricolour should not be bowed," Ramesh tweeted in Hindi.

"We are putting the DP of our leader Nehru with tricolour in hand. But it seems that the message of the Prime Minister did not reach his own family. Those who did not hoist the flag in their headquarters in Nagpur for 52 years, will they obey the Prime Minister?" Ramesh said in an obvious reference to the RSS. He used the hashtag 'MyTirangaMyPride'.

Among the other party leaders who changed their DPs in the run-up to Independence Day were Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate. The official Twitter handle of the party as well as that of the Congress Seva Dal and other party-related organisations also changed their profile pictures.

On Tuesday, Modi changed his display picture on social media accounts to the national flag and urged people to do the same as part of a collective movement to celebrate the tricolour.

Other senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers and chief ministers, followed suit.

Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari and chief ministers Yogi Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan were among a large number of party members who switched their profile pictures on Twitter to the national flag.

In his Mann ki Baat radio broadcast on Sunday, Modi said the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' is turning into a mass movement and urged people to put the 'tiranga' as the profile picture of their social media accounts between 2 and 15 August.

With inputs from PTI

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