'BJP realised importance of National Flag after five decades'

All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa on Friday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had taken five decades to realise the importance of the National Flag.

Addressing mediapersons, here, Kalappa said, “It took 52 years for the BJP to realise the importance of the Indian flag. For the first time, the Rashtriya Swayamsevaka Sangh (RSS) hoisted the tri-colour flag at its head office in Nagpur recently. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had put his signature on a National Flag in a foreign country.”

However, he welcomed the move of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry for making it mandatory to hoist the tri-colour flag in all the Central universities. “Masarat Alam, who supported Afzal Guru, and Asiya Andrabi, who were anti-India and had raised slogans in favour of Pakistan, were released from jail after the BJP came to power at the Centre. The BJP government has been targeting only students in connection with the slogans supporting Guru. The Congress party will not support Afzal Guru at any cost and everyone should remember that Guru was hanged when Congress was in power,” he said.

For a query, he said, Congress party’s concern was that no innocent people should be victimised as traitor. Kalappa said, “The clash between Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Left-parties was the reason behind the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) incident. The ABVP has been trying to dominate its opponents with the help of the Central government.”  

Rajyotsava award for HarishKalappa urged the State government to honour N Harish, who pleaded to donate his organs before breathing his last after he was run over by a truck in Nelamangala, Bengaluru Rural district recently, with the Rajyotsava award posthumously.

He said, he will speak to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in this regard and also urge him to release the pending compensation to martyrs in the police and defence force.

“The war of words on the wrist watch of the chief minister is a closed chapter. The issue was raised by Janata Dal (Secular) to gain mileage in the Assembly by-elections, which was held recently. The JD(S) has failed to save its deposit in all the three constituencies. The issue will not have a negative impact on the Zilla and Taluk Panchayat elections,” he said, to a query.