Srinagar's Lal Chowk: Always at centre of politics and clashes in Kashmir's history

For a while, it was known as Palladium Chowk because of the Palladium Talkies cinema hall that was started by a philanthropist in 1932. But in the early 1940s, Sikh leftist and intellectual B.P.L. Bedi, father of actor Kabir Bedi and a confidant to National Conference leader Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, named it Lal Chowk (Red Square) after the Red Square of Moscow. Since then, this square in Srinagar has been an important landmark

In 1947, the NC, which opposed the autocratic rule of Maharaja Hari Singh, shifted party headquarters to Lal Chowk from Zaina Kadal in downtown Srinagar after Singh fled from Kashmir to Jammu to avoid the Pakistani tribals who were advancing on Srinagar. After the Indian Army landed in Kashmir and prevented the tribals from reaching Srinagar, a UN-mandated ceasefire between India and Pakistan over Kashmir came into effect. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru then visited Kashmir and addressed a gathering of mostly NC supporters, who had joined the local militia to fight the tribals. He told the gathering that after normalcy is restored, the issue of Kashmir’s accession would be decided by holding a UN-supervised plebiscite. “Even if you decide against accession to India, your wishes will be respected,” he declared, eliciting cheers from the crowd. Sheikh responded to Nehru’s speech by quoting a couplet of Persian poet Amir Khusroo, “Mun tu shudum tu mun shudi; Mun tun shudam tu jan shudi; Ta kas na goyad baad azeen, mun deegram, tu deegray” (You become me, and I become you; I am the body and you are the soul; henceforth, let nobody say we are separate from each other).

In 1953, Sheikh, who was prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was deposed and arrested on orders of Nehru on charges of conspiring against Kashmir’s accession with India. Sheikh and his supporters then launched the Plebiscite Front to demand a plebiscite in Kashmir. In 1963, when the holy relic at Hazratbal shrine went missing, scores of people staged a sit-in at Lal Chowk until the relic was recovered. In 1975, when Sheikh signed an accord with prime minister Indira Gandhi and abandoned the Plebiscite Front, he addressed a large crowd at Lal Chowk and defended his ditching of the Plebiscite Front. He accused Pakistan of misleading people in Kashmir over the Indira-Sheikh Accord.

In 1980, Bajaj Electricals raised a clock tower at Lal Chowk with the company’s logo and clock to advertise the company’s products in Kashmir. In 1988, when militancy erupted in Kashmir, many rallies were held by separatists in and around Lal Chowk. Sometimes, the supporters of militant groups would also hoist flags of Pakistan and the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) on the clock tower. Later, the BSF constructed a bunker at the spot to deter separatists from housing flags atop the clock tower.

On January 26, 1992, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi took out the ‘Ekta Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Srinagar and hoisted the national flag at the clock tower. He was accompanied by a group of BJP leaders including Narendra Modi. In 2008, when Kashmir erupted against the transfer of land to Amarnath Shrine Board at Batlal in Ganderbal, thousands of people gathered at Lal Chowk and hoisted Pakistani flags on the clock tower.

In 2011, the BJP Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, announced another ‘Ekta Yatra’ from Kolkata to Srinagar to inform people on the Kashmir issue and challenge pro-Pakistan separatists by hoisting the flag of India at Lal Chowk on Republic Day. The move was opposed by the Congress and the NC fearing it would stir unrest. While the majority of BJYM members were stopped from reaching Kashmir, senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley continued the march until they were stopped from entering Jammu and Kashmir from Punjab. The BJP members in the rally were subsequently arrested and released after the Republic Day celebrations were over.

Besides being the business centre of Kashmir, Lal Chowk has some important buildings in the vicinity, like the Tyndale Biscoe School. The school was founded in 1880 by missionaries and was named after Canon Cecil Tyndale-Bisco. NC president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, JKLF first commander Ishfaq Majeed Wani and Muslim League leader Masarat Alam are alumni of the school.

At walking distance from the school is the Press Enclave, where national, international and local media have their offices. The Palladium Talkies, which was reduced to a heap of debris during militancy, now houses a CRPF camp. On the other side is Maisuma, which has earned the sobriquet of Gaza of Kashmir, because of recurring clashes between security forces and separatists after the eruption of militancy in Kashmir. Maisuma is also the place where the jailed JKLF leader Yasin Malik lived all his life.

During the 2019 security and communication lockdown on Kashmir, Lal Chowk was the first to be sealed by the security forces with concertina wire. Other sites in the vicinity include Court Road, Pratap Park, Residency Road and the Polo View, where tourists come for shopping.