BJP's Border Darshan yatra to Nathu La Pass

New Delhi, May 14 : In order to sensitise countrymen about the security problems of the border areas and people living there, BJP veteran L K Advani today flagged off a unique 'Border Darshan' pilgrimage.

"Border Darshan is an effort to focus attention on the areas which have been in the forefront of the country's defence. Border areas like Kashmir and Northeast need special care and we have to ensure our defence preparedness to face challenges emerging from various factors across the border," Mr Advani said at his residence here.

First of the 15,700 km-Border Darshan will be started from Munsiyari in Uttarakhand.

The BJP will observe 110th birth anniversary of Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee as a year of 'Border Darshan'.

It will be visiting inaccessible border areas of the country in all the four directions commencing from May 14 to April 17, 2012.

Speaking about the Darshan yatra, Mr Advani said the BJP was a product of the sacrifice of the Jana Sangh founder who laid down his life for the sake of integrating Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union.

Protesting against the prevailing permit system for Indians even to visit for tourism purposes, he walked into Jammu and Kahmir from Punjab but returned dead under mysterious circumstances in 1953. It was after this supreme sacrifice, things changed in J and K and the President, Supreme Court and Election Commission could get to exercise their powers in the state.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP and Dr Shyama Prasad Mukerjee Research Foundation Director Tarun Vijay said the yatra would touch border areas like Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal, Nathu La Pass in Sikkim, Bara Hoti in Uttarakhand in the areas bordering China.

In the west the yatra would touch Okha, Gujarat, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, Uri in J and K, and Moirang in the eastern state of Manipur.

The yatra would touch Lakshadweep and Andaman Nicobar islands on the eastern and western coasts of India.

He said for the participants of the yatra the unanimous resolutions adopted by Parliament after the Chinese aggression in 1962 and on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in February 1994 would be the guidelines and the nation would be apprised about the resolutions passed in the regimes headed by Jawaharlal Nehru and P V Narasimha Rao on two separate occasions.

During the yatra, the participants will meet the ITBP/BSF jawans, pay tributes to the martyred soldiers and understand the difficulties they face in their day to day life and their perception of the challenges from across the border.

The BJP will also prepare a Border Status Report through the Border Darshan yatra.

--UNI