Boat carrying journalists during BJP rally capsizes in Dal Lake, Islamists celebrate on Twitter

A boat carrying journalists capsized in the Dal Lake earlier today in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. They were covering a BJP rally led by Union Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur.

https://twitter.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/1338043705022849026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

All the journalists were rescued immediately. However, soon after the news was published, Islamists took to social media to celebrate the incident.

https://twitter.com/H_trath/status/1338052467490136064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/DarIrfanAh/status/1338031738031751168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/SAMPARAY1/status/1338040957405593601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/FatiMaS_ZAhRa2/status/1338036675541430274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Some even expressed with that they could have seen this live. https://twitter.com/adeemd/status/1338056719679717377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Junaid here identifies himself as a photo journalist. https://twitter.com/Junaidbhatphoto/status/1338037389088813056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/AfaaqKashmiri/status/1338041514220421122?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Politicians too chimed in

Congress leader Salman Nizami too joined in.

https://twitter.com/SalmanNizami_/status/1338031258593587201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw J&K PDP spokesperson Najmu Saqib tweeted that ‘imported’ lotuses do not grow in ‘our’ Dal Lake, thereby trying to show that Kashmir is not a part of India. https://twitter.com/SAAQQIIB/status/1338033088299864065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

On Sunday, polling began for the 6th phase of DDC (District Development Council) election being held in J&K for 31 seats. Besides these, voting is also on for 334 Panch and 77 Sarpanch seats. The 8-phase elections started from 28th November and will conclude on 19th December.

These are the first major elections in the region after abrogation of Article 370 in erstwhile state of J&K which made J&K an integral part of India without any riders attached. These polls are crucial for the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a group of mostly regional political parties, the BJP and the newly formed Apni Party.