Shimla, Jul 28 (PTI) Insulting the tricolour by throwing black flags and shoes to gain political mileage is an indecent act and would not be tolerated, said Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday.
He was referring to the incident that occurred Friday when BJP workers in Janjheli and Thunag areas of the Seraj Assembly constituency of former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur staged a protest and allegedly threw black flags and shoes on the state Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi’s vehicle carrying the national flag.
Negi had gone to visit the disaster-hit Thunag in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi.
More than 50 people were booked for wrongful restraint, unlawful assembly and rioting after they greeted the revenue minister with black flags and ‘go back’ slogans, and tried to stop his vehicle in the Seraj Assembly constituency in the Mandi district on Friday.
Sukhu said that the Revenue Minister had repeatedly told people that the decision to shift the College of Forestry and Horticulture in Thunag in Seraj assembly on a temporary basis to the adjoining Nachan assembly segment was taken on the request of parents and students. However, the BJP workers still misbehaved with him.
Earlier, during a press conference on Sunday, the Revenue Minister Negi said that cases of sedition and treason should be registered against the protesters who allegedly threw shoes and black flags at his car carrying the national flag.
He had said that a few hundred protesters in the Thunag Bazaar had a “vested interest” in the shifting of the College of Forestry and Horticulture as it affected their business, but the students and their parents don’t want the college to be shifted to Thunag from Sundernagar.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued here, BJP state president Rajiv Bindal said, “The tricolour is our pride and honour.” He accused the Congress leaders of doing politics at a time when people are suffering from the disaster.
The former chief minister opened the college but neither provided adequate infrastructure nor a hostel, and the students were staying as paying guests, he alleged.
“We strongly condemn the Himachal government for registering cases against people in the Thunag area and demand immediate withdrawal of cases against the affected people,” said BJP state spokesperson, Ajay Rana.
About 15 people were killed while over 30 are still missing as cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides wreaked havoc in Seraj, Nachan, Karsog and Dharampur assembly constituencies of Mandi district on the intervening night of June 30 and July 1. PTI BPL HIG
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