The Jammu and Kashmir administration has partly demolished Srinagar’s “political” landmark Ghanta Ghar to renovate it as part of a smart city project, triggering allegations that the government is erasing Kashmir’s history.

Srinagar’s city centre is being overhauled under the smart city project, which has gained pace in recent weeks because of the proposed G20 meetings in Jammu and Kashmir. It has turned the heart of the city into a mess, hitting businesses and choking pedestrian and vehicular movement.

With many residents already resentful of the project, the partial dismantling of the Ghanta Ghar clock tower has touched a raw nerve.

The BJP has long been obsessed with the Ghanta Ghar, once the ground zero of the pro-independence movement. The party and people linked to it have hoisted the Tricolour over it on several occasions in the past to try and “erase” its separatist links.

Many Srinagar residents are looking at the “renovation” of the Ghanta Ghar through that prism.

Bulldozers and hammer-wielding labourers have over the past few days removed parts of the structure, including its fine brickwork. That led to fears that the tower would be razed to the ground.

The Ghanta Ghar before the “renovation” Sourced by The Telegraph

A senior engineer associated with the project, however, told The Telegraph that the idea was to “only improve the façade and the roof” while the rest of the old structure would be retained.

Srinagar’s BJP-friendly mayor Junaid Mattu called it a rebuilding exercise.

“The Clock Tower (‘Ghanta Ghar’) is being restored and rebuilt by SMC (Srinagar Municipal Corporation) to reflect our heritage and architecture — down to the finest details…. Shoddiness is not an alibi for preservation,” Mattu tweeted early on Thursday, posting the image of a tower with a brand new look.

Many Kashmiri social media users have opposed the move despite the government’s alleged “zero-tolerance policy” towards any criticism.

A pro-government “counter-propaganda” handle, “Counter Disinformation Centre”, has flagged a dozen-odd social media posts criticising the administration and accusing it of “erasing history”. The centre described the posts as “propaganda”.

A post flagged by the centre, and apparently written by a student enrolled in a nearby school, goes: “I saw the despair in the eyes of Auto Baya while he was looking at Ghanta Ghar. It felt as if he could hear the sound of every brick falling. His mouth was on the verge of shouting, and I couldn’t bear to look at the pain in his eyes.”

The clock tower has since 1990 attracted tens of thousands of azadi supporters who hoisted separatist flags on it. The BJP has led rallies to the landmark to oppose separatism and forge national unity.

In 1992, then BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi had led an Ekta Yatra to the Ghanta Ghar to unfurl the Tricolour. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then a small-time politician, was part of it.

The Ghanta Ghar is located at Lal Chowk, which has been a landmark for generations, deriving its name from Moscow’s Red Square.