BJP-RSS Trying To Hide 'Dark Pages' Of Its Past Through 'Har Ghar Tiranga' Campaign: Akhilesh Yadav

Yadav alleged that after the BJP took over in Uttar Pradesh, the practice of police personnel saluting the tricolour every evening was stopped.

Akhilesh Yadav

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New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav launched a scathing attack on the BJP-RSS on Saturday saying that the saffron party’s ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign is a bid to hide the ‘dark pages’ of their past, news agency PTI reported. He also alleged that the party was hell-bent upon destroying the sanctity of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to mark 75 years of India's independence.

"While this flag is a symbol of pride for crores of Indians, it is a commodity for the BJP. BJP should stop setting up shops for everything. Playing with the pride of the national flag is shameful and condemnable," Yadav said, according to a party statement.

He further alleged that under public pressure and for selfish power gains, the BJP-RSS is trying to hide the "dark pages" of its past.

The SP chief alleged that the RSS, the political fountainhead of ruling BJP, did not accept the national flag and the Constitution even after the Independence and accused RSS of siding with the British during the freedom struggle, adding that the Samajwadi Party carried forward the legacy of independence by running a door-to-door tricolour drive from August 9 to August 15.

Yadav, in a tweet two days back, said, "BJP offices have become tricolour shops...BJP should tell how much GST will have to be paid on the flags." He also attached a video of the national flag being sold to make his point.

Referring to the unfurling of a tricolour atop a 207-foot-tall pole in the Janeshwar Mishra Park in Lucknow during the Samajwadi Party government, he alleged that after the BJP took over in Uttar Pradesh, the practice of police personnel saluting the tricolour every evening was stopped.

Slamming the saffron party, Yadav said that in some places, BJP leaders were photographed holding the flag upside down.

He alleged that in Chitrakoot, the BJP district chief was seen keeping the national flag near his feet, and the BJP MLA from Lakhimpur and BJP leaders in Etawah did not even know how to hold the tricolour properly.

Such degrading treatment of the national flag is inexcusable, Yadav added.