Religious flag atop lamppost at Shivajinagar’s Chandni Chowk replaced with Tricolour

BENGALURU: Amid the controversy over taking down a Hanuman flag at Keragodu in Mandya district, the city police on Tuesday got locals to take down a religious flag atop a lamppost at Chandni Chowk in Shivajinagar and replaced it with the national flag.

ಮಾನ್ಯ @CPBlr @DCPEASTBCP ಅವರೇ, ಈ ರೀತಿ ಶತ್ರು ದೇಶದ ಬಣ್ಣವನ್ನು ಹೋಲುವ ಹಸಿರು ಧ್ವಜವನ್ನು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾರಿಸುವುದು ನಮ್ಮ flag code ಗೆ ವಿರುದ್ದವಾದದ್ದಲ್ಲವೇ ? ಈ ಕೂಡಲೇ, ಇದನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಧ್ವಜವನ್ನು ಹಾರಿಸಿ. ಶಿವಾಜಿನಗರ ಇರುವುದು ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ, ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನದಲ್ಲಲ್ಲ https://t.co/Ln6mx86Erd

— Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) (@BasanagoudaBJP) January 30, 2024

The move came two hours after a post on X by Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal wherein he tagged the city police commissioner and the DCP (East) stating that the colour of the flag ina public place resembles that of and “enemy nation” and questioned whether it was not against the flag code. “Take it down immediately and put up the national flag. Shivajinagar is in Bharat and not in Pakistan”, his post read.

The religious flag was taken to a dargah close by.

Prior to the MLA’s post, a youth had posted on Facebook questioning the Congress to which religion the flag on the lamppost belonged and questioning if the government had the courage to take it down. The youth had also questioned whether the Congress acts only against Hindu villagers. Several others too had raised questions about the action against the villagers of Keragodu.

Akmal, a local resident, said they took down the religious flag after the police inquired about it.

Akmal, a resident of Shivajinagar, said the flag was replaced with the national flag after a directive from the police. “The flag was placed on the lamppost by the dargah and it had been there for the last 30 years. The police called us around 12.30 pm to inquire about the flag and instructed us to take it down. We have replaced it with the national flag”, he said and added that locals have put up the Tricolour around Chandni Chowk also.