'I Was Once Put in Jail for Hoisting Tricolour in Kashmir But Now...': Union Minister Anurag Thakur at Y20 Summit

Guwahati: Union minister Anurag Singh Thakur recalled the time he was imprisoned for hoisting the Indian flag in Kashmir at the first Y20 Summit on Tuesday (Feb 7) in Assam's Guwahati. Elaborating on his experience, Thakur said that when he was the BJP Yuva Morcha president, he had taken out a yatra from Kolkata to Kashmir. He wanted to hoist the national flag in the valley but was put in jail for trying to do so. However, he said, now there are no such restrictions in Kashmir. "As the BJP Yuva Morcha president when I had taken out a yatra from Kolkata to Kashmir and wanted to hoist the national flag in the valley, I was imprisoned. But there are no such restrictions anymore," he said as quoted by PTI.

He further said, "After the abrogation of Article 370, you could see last year during the 'Har Ghat Tiranga' program, there was a Tiranga hoisted on each and every house in Kashmir."

At the summit, Thakur also noted that youth is the engine that drives the nation toward success.

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Union Minister @ianuragthakur gracing the Y-20 Inception Meeting at @IITGuwahati in Assam

@PIBDispur https://t.co/hjusLx7kW6 — Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (@MIB_India) February 7, 2023

 

"Innovation, entrepreneurship and problem solving will be the cornerstone for youth-led development anywhere in the world," he said, while addressing the summit.
There are ever-evolving opportunities in agriculture, defence, sports, media and entertainment, social entrepreneurship, and youth are the drivers of this revolution, the minister stated.

"The Indian economy has increased in size from being tenth to fifth-largest in the world in the past nine years. We are a diverse, democratic and demand-driven country," he maintained.

The country's demographic dividend is uniquely poised to usher in an era of rapid social, economic, environmental and technological innovation and advancement.

(With PTI inputs)