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'Is it a crime?', asks Congress after being stopped from presenting tri-colour to RSS chief

Party workers stopped by police from proceeding to Bhagwat's event

Madhya Pradesh Congress media cell vice-president Sangeeta Sharma hands over the national flag to police officers. Madhya Pradesh Congress media cell vice-president Sangeeta Sharma hands over the national flag to police officers.

Prevented from proceeding to a programme venue in Bhopal to present a national flag to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, Madhya Pradesh Congress accused the state BJP government of oppression. Senior leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh raised questions whether it was a crime in independent India to present a national flag.

State Congress media cell vice-president Sangeeta Sharma had announced on Friday that a delegation of Congress would present the tricolour to Bhagwat, who attended an event to mark the conclusion of an RSS training camp at a mall in Bhopal on Saturday. The attempt was to highlight the allegation that RSS was averse to hoisting of the national flag.

In an official statement, the Congress claimed that the Congress headquarters was turned into a police camp from Saturday morning and the police officers entered the chambers of Sharma and media cell chief K.K. Mishra, in a bid to prevent the party delegation from proceeding to meet Bhagwat. The officers told the party leaders that they had orders to arrest them. Mishra and Sharma offered to be arrested saying “they will not step back from their decision to teach a lesson of true nationalism to fake nationalists”, the Congress note said.

The Congress announced intention of proceeding to the venue of the event attended by Bhagwat at 3 pm and a group set forth from the Congress office, but the police put up heavy barricading and stopped the Congress workers at about 500 meters distance. 

After a long discussion, the Congress workers agreed to handover the national flag to the police officers who assured that it would be delivered to Bhagwat “keeping in view the honour of the national tricolour”. However, the police did not accept a book on RSS that the Congress members wanted to present to Bhagwat and the party decided to send it by post, the note said.

Talking to media persons, Sharma said that she was pained that presenting the national flag to someone in independent India had become a crime. She said that the way the Congress was prevented from giving the national flag to the RSS chief, it became apparent that the history of RSS and BJP’s ancestors was that of traitors.

Meanwhile, Kamal Nath tweeted: “When entire country is celebrating 75th anniversary of independence, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh is stopping Congress workers from presenting the tricolour. Sangeeta Sharma and other Congress workers were planning to present the tricolour to the RSS chief today so that a feeling of nationalism arose in him, however rather than welcoming this stand, the Congress office was surrounded by police from morning itself. Police stopped the Congress workers and did not allow them to present the tricolour. I want to ask the chief minister whether it is a crime under the BJP government in independent India to present the national flag.”

Digvijaya Singh tweeted earlier to say that police had entered the Congress headquarters in Bhopal without prior intimation. Police had also entered chambers of media cell office bearers including Sharma who was to present the flag to Bhagwat. “It has become a crime during Amrit Mahotsava of independence to present the tricolour,” Singh said.

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