Lal Chowk

Lal Chowk
View of the square in 2017
Map
Location within Srinagar, J&K, India
NamesakeRussian Revolution
LocationSrinagar,Jammu and Kashmir
PIN190001
Coordinates34°04′16″N 74°48′38″E / 34.0712°N 74.8106°E / 34.0712; 74.8106
Construction
Completion1980

Lal Chowk (lit. 'Red Square') is a city square in Srinagar, in the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir.

The square has traditionally served as a place for political meetings, with Jawaharlal Nehru (the first prime ministers of India) and Sheikh Abdullah Jammu and Kashmir, respectively) as well as other prominent political leaders having addressed people from it. The clock tower at Lal Chowk was built in 1980.[1]

Description

The Lal Chowk precinct stretches on both the sides of the Residency Road between the Amira Kadal bridge and the Tyndale Biscoe School. It has evolved into Srinagar's main business district from early twentieth century.[2]

The Lal Chowk itself was a traffic roundabout towards its eastern end. It houses a clock tower (ganta ghar) constructed by Bajaj Electricals in 1980.[3][4]

It was renovated many times with minor changes. Recently in 2024 it was completely reconstructed under Srinagar Smart City Project and walkway and area for sitting was added to its surroundings.

History

Sheikh Abdullah addressing a gathering at Lal Chowk in 1975

Lal Chowk was the location where Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, unfurled the Indian national flag in 1948, shortly after the country gained independence from the British Empire.[1] Following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, Nehru stood in Lal Chowk and promised the Kashmiri people a chance to vote in a referendum whereby they would be able to choose their political future. The city square was also the location where Sheikh Abdullah, the first elected Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, expressed his allegiance to Nehru and India in a Persian couplet, saying "Man Tu Shudam, Tu Man Shudi, Taqas Na Goyed, Man Degram Tu Degri (I became you and you became I; so none can say we are separate)".[1]

1990s

In 1990 separatists had dared anyone to try and raise the flag of India at Lal Chowk. The National Security Guards took up the challenge and raised the flag.[1] The clock tower gained political significance in 1992, when the then Bharatiya Janata Party president, Murli Manohar Joshi, hoisted the Indian flag on top of the tower on Republic Day.[5][6] Joshi hoisted the flag in the company of Indian troops. Since then, the Indian Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force undertook the hoisting ceremony until 2009, when they announced that continuing the ritual was unnecessary because the tower "had no political significance".[7] Following this, official ceremonies were held at the nearby Bakshi Stadium in Wazir Bagh Srinagar on Republic Day and Independence Day.

1993 Lal Chowk fire

Shops near the Lal Chowk

In 1993, there was an arson attack on the main commercial centre of downtown Srinagar.[a] The fire was alleged to have been started by a crowd incited by separatist militants.[8] The civilians and police officials interviewed by Human Rights Watch and other international organizations alleged that the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) set fire to the locality, apparently in retaliation to the burning of an abandoned BSF building by local residents.[9] Over 125 Kashmiri civilians were killed in the incident.[10]

2011 Republic Day

Clock Tower at Lal Chowk was built by Bajaj Electricals in 1980

In 2011, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced its plan to start a march called Ektha Yatra from Kolkata, West Bengal to Srinagar.[11] The purpose of the march was to unite Indians on the Kashmir issue and challenge pro-Pakistan separatists by hoisting the flag of India atop the tower in Lal Chowk on 26 January 2011—India's Republic Day. This move was reportedly intended to serve as a response to Kashmiri insurgents. The march was opposed by the Indian National Congress and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, who were fearful that it might fuel further unrest in Muslim-majority Kashmir.[12]

Following the announcement by the BJYM, the central government took various countermeasures to stop the planned march.[13] Trains carrying BJYM members to Srinagar were stopped and sent back to their locations of departure. While the majority of BJYM members failed to reach the Kashmir Valley, top BJP leaders, namely Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, continued to lead the march until they were stopped while attempting to enter Jammu & Kashmir from Punjab via a bridge crossing the Ravi River on 25 January 2011.[14] All BJP members in the rally were subsequently arrested and kept in custody in the city of Jammu until the end of formalities on Republic Day.[15]

Indian security forces were instructed to heavily cordon Lal Chowk on Republic Day. However, some BJP activists reached Srinagar and hoisted the Indian flag near the city square, although they failed to reach their intended destination on top of the clock tower.[16]

Sushma Swaraj, upon her arrest by security forces, said: "Why are we being arrested? We were marching peacefully. Those who burn the national flag are being provided security while those holding the national flag are being stopped."[17] Arun Jaitley said: "For the first time after independence, hoisting national tricolour has become illegal in our country."[12]

29 January 2023

On this day, Rahul Gandhi unfurled national tricolour in Lal Chowk as the party's mass outreach program "Bharat Jodo Yatra" was one day left to end in Srinagar.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra Completed of "30 January 2023" after unfurled National Tricolour by Rahul Gandhi in Sher-E-Kashmir Stadium,Srinagar.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lal Chowk, Srinagar.

Notes

  1. ^ The incident took place on 10 April 1993.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Nandal, Randeep Singh (26 January 2011). "All eyes on other R-Day march to Lal Chowk". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  2. ^ Alkazi, Feisal (2014), Srinagar: An Architectural Legacy, Roli Books, p. 128, ISBN 978-93-5194-051-7
  3. ^ Ganai, Naseer (17 January 201). "A 'minor' symbol of nationalism in Srinagar". India Today. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Clock Tower at Srinagar's Lal Chowk illuminated in tricolour". The Times of India. ANI. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  5. ^ For 5 years, he unfurled the Tricolour at Lal Chowk
  6. ^ LAL CHOWK TO LALAN COLLEGE, MODI MOCKS NEW DELHI
  7. ^ Fazili, Ehsan (25 January 2016). "When BJP chief Joshi unfurled national flag at Lal Chowk". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  8. ^ Jagmohan (2006). My FrozenTurbulence in Kashmir (7th Ed.). Allied Publishers. p. 649. ISBN 978-81-7764-995-6. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  9. ^ The Human Rights Crisis in Kashmir: Patterns of Impunity. "Human Rights Watch." 1993
  10. ^ Gargan, Edward. Indian Troops Are Blamed As Kashmir Violence Rises. New York Times. 18 April 1993.
  11. ^ Sharma, Naresh Kumar (22 January 2011). "BJP to go ahead with Ekta Yatra in Kashmir". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011.
  12. ^ a b Abhishek, Kumar (25 January 2011). "BJP Flag Yatra: Swaraj, Jaitley Arrested". Outlook India. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  13. ^ Shankar Kaura, Girja (23 January 2011). "BJP ignores PM's appeal, firm on Tricolour hoisting". The Tribune. Chandigarh, India. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  14. ^ "BJP rally stopped at Jammu; Jaitley, Sushma arrested", NDTV News, 25 January 2011, archived from the original on 3 February 2011
  15. ^ Shujaat Bukhari, BJP leaders detained at Jammu airport, sent to Punjab, The Hindu, 24 January 2011.
  16. ^ Omar foils BJP's flag-hoisting plan, The Times of India, 27 January 2011.
  17. ^ Saleem Pandit (26 January 2011). "BJP's march halted at Ravi bridge". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.