The 75th Independence Day celebrations in Kerala on Sunday witnessed controversies over the CPI(M) hoisting the national flag allegedly at the same level as the party flag and the BJP raising the tricolour upside down.
The CPI (M) hoisting of the flag allegedly at the same level as that of the party flag was objected to by Youth Congress leader and former MLA K S Sabarinadhan who said it was a violation of the National Flag Code 2.2 (viii) which stipulates that "no other flag or bunting should be placed higher than or above or side by side with the national flag".
CPI(M) state committee secretary A Vijayaraghavan unfurled the tricolour at the party office in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Youth Congress leader, in a Facebook post, said it was a violation of the law that no other flag should be placed at the same height as the national flag and a case should be registered against CPI(M) for violating the flag code. The CPI(M) is yet to react to the allegation by the Congress leader.
The hoisting of the tricolour at the BJP state committee office saw the flag being raised upside down for a few feet by the party state president K Surendran but he corrected himself immediately.
Meanwhile, Congress MP and KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, in his Independence Day message, criticised the celebrations at the CPI(M) state party office by alleging that the Leftists had never participated in the freedom struggle.
CPI(M) decided to hoist the flag side by side with the party flag at all its offices in the country for the first time after attaining independence. Sudhakaran alleged that the hoisting of the flag by the party was part of its hypocritical politics and said the Communist party should apologise. Vijayaraghavan, on the other hand, said the CPI(M) had been a part of the freedom struggle and its leaders, too, had made a lot of sacrifices back then.
