Team News Riveting
Lucknow, August 22
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday faced widespread criticism for placing its party flag on top of Indian tricolour while paying respect to the mortal remains of senior party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, who passed away on Saturday.
The incident had kicked up a row on social media as Opposition leaders criticised the party for allegedly placing BJP flag over the national flag. “India will not tolerate the insult to national flag,” the official Youth Congress handle tweeted in Hindi.
BV Srinivas, National President of the youth wing of Congress, asked, “Is it ok to place party flag over Indian flag in New India?”
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari said, “party above the Nation, Flag above the Tricolor. BJP as usual: no regret, no repentance, no sorrow, no grief,” in a tweet.
Several top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath paid their tribute to Kalyan Singh. Visuals shared from the BJP’s official social media handles showed Kalyan Singh’s mortal remains draped by the country’s national flag, which was partially covered by the BJP flag.
Singh died due to sepsis and multi organ failure, the SGPGIMS said in a statement on Saturday night.
The Uttar Pradesh government has announced three days of state mourning. The Uttarakhand Government also declared a one-day state mourning on Sunday, following Singh’s death.
