Overview
- Videos from a Tiranga rally in Anantnag showed participants chanting an altered slogan on Wednesday that invoked the traditional Kashmiri names Azi and Fazi and was widely read as insulting to Kashmiri women.
- The footage spread quickly on social media and drew sharp condemnation from regional parties, civil society groups and the public for using gendered language tied to local honour.
- BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur apologised for the remarks, said the slogans did not reflect the party’s position and warned journalists against seeking comments from unauthorised members.
- On Friday the Jammu and Kashmir BJP suspended nine Anantnag district office-bearers pending an internal inquiry while a senior leader, Mohammad Yusuf Sofi, who appears in video at the front of the rally, was not among those disciplined.
- The episode revives a longer symbolic fight over Article 370 because the altered slogan inverted an old National Conference phrase linking the provision to the dignity of Kashmiri mothers and could prompt legal complaints, deeper party probes and wider reputational damage in the Valley.