Lal Chowk () is a

city square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

, Jammu and Kashmir,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The square was given its name by

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

activists who were inspired by the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

as they fought the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...

Hari Singh Maharaja Sir Hari Singh (September 1895 – 26 April 1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), Jammu and Kashmir. Hari Singh was the son of Amar Singh and Bhotiali Chib. In 1923, followi ...

. It has traditionally served as a place for political meetings, with

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

and

Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (5 December 1905 – 8 September 1982) was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir Abdullah was the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (later rena ...

(the first

prime ministers of India The prime minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India. Although the President of India is the constitutional, nominal, and ceremonial head of state, in practice and ordinarily, the executive authority is vested in the P ...

and 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.

Description

The Lal Chowk precinct stretches on both the sides of the Residency Road between the

Amira Kadal Of all the seven historical bridges of Srinagar, the Amira Kadal Bridge also referred to as the "first Bridge" is a relatively newer one if compared with the rest of the six bridges. Built in 1774–77 by the Afghan Governor Amir Khan Sher Jawa ...

bridge and the

Tyndale Biscoe School Tyndale Biscoe School is a school in the Sheikh Bagh neighbourhood, in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The school was founded in 1880 CE and is one of the oldest schools in Jammu and Kashmir, the oldest being S.P s ...

. It has evolved into Srinagar's main business district from early twentieth century. The Lal Chowk itself is a traffic

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

towards its eastern end. It houses a clock tower (''ganta ghar'') constructed by

Bajaj Electricals Bajaj Electricals Ltd () is an Indian consumer electrical equipment manufacturing company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of the Bajaj Group. It has diversified with interests in lighting, luminaries, appliances, fans, LPG based ...

in 1980.

History

Lal Chowk was the location where

, the first

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

, unfurled the

Indian national flag The national flag of India, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of India saffron, white and India green; with the ', a 24-spoke wheel, in navy blue at its centre. It was adopted in its present form ...

in 1948, shortly after the country gained independence from the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. Following the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, or the First Kashmir War, was a war fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four Indo-Pakistani wars that was fought between t ...

, Nehru stood in Lal Chowk and promised the

Kashmiri people Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern ...

a chance to vote in a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

whereby they would be able to choose their political future. The city square was also the location where

, the first elected

Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir was the title given to the head of government of Jammu and Kashmir. As per the Constitution of India, the Lieutenant Governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests wit ...

, expressed his allegiance to Nehru and India in a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

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)".

1990s

In 1990 separatists had dared anyone to try and raise the flag of India at Lal Chowk. The

National Security Guards The National Security Guard (NSG), commonly known as Black Cats, is a counter-terrorism unit of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was founded on 16 October 1984, following Operation Blue Star, for combating terrorist activities and p ...

took up the challenge and raised the flag. The clock tower gained political significance in 1992, when the then

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

president,

Murli Manohar Joshi Murli Manohar Joshi (born 5 January 1934) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993, and the former Member of Parliament for Kanpur parliamentary constitue ...

, hoisted the

Indian flag The national flag of India, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of India saffron, white and India green; with the ', a 24-spoke wheel, in navy blue at its centre. It was adopted in its present form ...

on top of the tower on

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...

. Joshi hoisted the flag in the company of Indian troops. Since then, the Indian

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is India's border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December 1 ...

and

Central Reserve Police Force The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police Forces. The CRPF's primary role li ...

undertook the hoisting ceremony until 2009, when they announced that continuing the ritual was unnecessary because the tower "had no political significance". Following this, official ceremonies were held at the nearby Bakshi Stadium in Wazir Bagh

and

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

1993 Lal Chowk fire

In 1993, there was an

arson attack Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, water ...

on the main commercial centre of downtown Srinagar. The fire iwas alleged to have been started by a crowd incited by separatist militants. The civilians and police officials interviewed by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

and other international organizations alleged that the Indian

(BSF) set fire to the locality, apparently in retaliation to the burning of an abandoned BSF building by local residents.The Human Rights Crisis in Kashmir: Patterns of Impunity
"

." 1993 Over 125 Kashmiri civilians were killed in the incident.Gargan, Edward.
Indian Troops Are Blamed As Kashmir Violence Rises
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

.'' 18 April 1993.

2011 Republic Day

In 2011, the

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) (translation: Indian People's Youth Front) is the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of the two major political parties in India. It was founded in 1978, and its first national president w ...

(BJYM), youth wing of the

(BJP), announced its plan to start a march called ''"Ektha Yatra"'' from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. The purpose of the march was to "unite Indians" on the Kashmir issue and challenge pro-Pakistan separatists by hoisting the

flag of India The national flag of India, Colloquialism, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of Saffron (color)#India saffron, India saffron, white and Variations of green#India green, India green; with the ', a 24 ...

atop the tower in Lal Chowk on 26 January 2011—India's

. This move was reportedly intended to serve as a response to Kashmiri insurgents, who had earlier hoisted the

flag of Pakistan The flag of Pakistan ( ur, ) traces its current form back to a meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11 August 1947, three days before the Partition of British India, when it was adopted by the All-India Muslim League as the offic ...

at the same place. The march was opposed by the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and the

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) is a regional political party in the Indian union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Founded as the ''All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference'' by Sheikh Abdullah and Chaudhry Ghulam Ab ...

, who were fearful that it might fuel further unrest in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Following the announcement by the BJYM, the central government took various countermeasures to stop the planned march. 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 The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and ...

, top BJP leaders, namely

Sushma Swaraj Sushma Swaraj () (''née'' Sharma; 14 February 1952 – 6 August 2019) was an Indian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the Minister of External Affairs of India in the first Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2019. She is only ...

and

Arun Jaitley Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jait ...

, continued to lead the march until they were stopped while attempting to enter Jammu & Kashmir from

Indian Punjab Punjab (; ) is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and R ...

via a bridge crossing the

Ravi River The Ravi River () is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two other rivers were ...

on 25 January 2011. All BJP members in the rally were subsequently arrested and kept in custody in the city of

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...

until the end of formalities on Republic Day. 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. 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." Arun Jaitley said: "For the first time after independence, hoisting national tricolour has become illegal in our country."

Notes

References

{{Jammu and Kashmir, state=collapsed Srinagar Buildings and structures in Jammu and Kashmir Tourist attractions in Srinagar Neighbourhoods in Srinagar Cities and towns in Srinagar district