Ashoka emblem vandalised at Srinagar’s Hazratbal shrine, BJP promises stern action

Omar Abdullah’s party maintained that installing the Ashoka emblem at the shrine violated Islamic teachings that strictly prohibit idol worship.

A major controversy erupted in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar on Friday after unidentified individuals vandalised the Ashoka emblem engraved on a renovation plaque at the Hazratbal Shrine.

A video that quickly spread across social media captured the moment several men were seen damaging the national emblem. The act followed objections raised by locals and political figures, who argued that displaying figures or symbolic designs inside a Muslim place of worship contradicts the core principles of Islam.

The revered Hazratbal Shrine, which holds a relic of Prophet Mohammad and is one of the holiest sites in the Valley, recently underwent significant renovation. As part of the inauguration of the reconstructed site, a plaque was placed by Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board chairperson Dr Darakshan Andrabi. The plaque, which bore the Ashoka emblem, drew immediate disapproval from many devotees and clerics, who criticised the decision to install it within the shrine’s premises.

In response to the growing criticism, the inauguration plaque was vandalised on Friday, and the emblem was forcibly removed. The incident has triggered sharp reactions across the political spectrum. While the Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the vandalism, the National Conference described the initial installation of the emblem at the shrine as “a direct affront to religious sentiments.”

NC terms it a violation of faith
The National Conference, in a statement reshared by party vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah, argued that placing a sculpted emblem inside the Hazratbal Shrine breached Islamic traditions. The party highlighted that idol worship and symbolic depictions of living forms are prohibited in Islam.

“It is therefore a matter of grave concern that practices contrary to the fundamental principles of Islam, such as the use of pictorial or symbolic depictions of living beings, are being introduced inside the sacred Hazratbal shrine — the spiritual heart of our people where thousands gather every day for prayers,” the statement noted.

The party further emphasised, “For devotees, this is not a small matter but a direct affront to their deeply held religious sentiments.”

Tanvir Sadiq, NC’s chief spokesperson and MLA from Zadibal, also voiced concern. He wrote on X, “I’m not a religious scholar but in Islam, idol worship is strictly forbidden — the gravest of sins. The foundation of our faith is Tawheed. Placing a sculpted figure at the revered Hazratbal Dargah goes against this very belief. Sacred spaces must reflect only the purity of Tawheed, nothing else.”

BJP and Waqf Board hit back
Reacting strongly, BJP leader and Waqf chairperson Dr Darakshan Andrabi denounced the incident, calling it a deliberate act of vandalism against the nation’s symbol.

“Tarnishing the national emblem is a terrorist attack, and the attackers are the goons of a political party. These people destroyed Kashmir earlier as well, and now they have openly come inside the Dargah Sharif… They have damaged the dignity of the dargah, and once they are identified, they will be banned from entering the dargah for life, and an FIR will be filed against them,” Andrabi told ANI.

She also accused her political opponents of exploiting the matter for their own agendas, remarking that those objecting to the emblem’s presence at the shrine should then refuse to use currency notes that also bear the same national symbol.