The decision to remove a saffron flag with an image of Lord Hanuman on it hoisted on a flagpole erected on government premises at Keregodu village in Mandya district led to not only tension in the village but also a slugfest between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) on Sunday.
While the BJP opposed the action, the government said the flag had been hoisted illegally since there is no provision for hoisting any other flag except the national flag on the government premises. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told presspersons in Chitradurga that it was not right to have flown the another flag instead of the national flag.
Govt. releases documents
The Gowrishankar Seva Trust had approached the Keregodu Gram Panchayat on December 29, 2023, to construct a flagpole on Keregodu Ranga Mandira premises, and committed to hoisting the national flag and the Kannada flag, documents released by the government show. The gram panchayat gave its approval on January 5, 2024, since there was no objection, but laid down conditions that included prohibiting them not to hoist any political or religious flags. The trust was to intimate the local police and the gram panchayat three or four days before hoisting the flag. One of the conditions included that they would not incite any violence.
“Under the Constitution, only the national flag should be hoisted on government premises. No political or religious flag can be hoisted. It is wrong to take permission to hoist the national flag on government premises and hoist another flag,” Mandya district in-charge and Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy told presspersons in Mandya
Clarifying that there is no politics involved in the removal of the flag, the Minister said it was wrong if the gram panchayat meeting had permitted the Hanuman flag to be hoisted, and that action would be taken against those who were responsible. “We are not anti-Hindus and I am a Ram Bhakth too. Our family deity is Vishnu.”
Extending support to the local youth, the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said the police force was used because the local legislator had not been invited for the event. “The government has become uncivil, un-pardonable and anti-people. The government has resorted to lathi-charge on innocent youth. Who gave the police orders to lathi charge? Just because the local legislator was not invited, should they resort to this action?”
The former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said in Haveri that the government was following appeasement politics in removing the flag.
