After Aug 15 Controversy, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat To Hoist National Flag In Kerala On Jan 26

After the August 15 controversy, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is set to hoist the national flag on the Republic Day in Kerala.

Bhagwat had created a controversy on August 15 last year after he unfurled the tricolour at a government-aided school in Palakkad by defying an order of the district aministration.  Following this, the state government had ordered action against the school authorities.

The District collector had issued a memo to the school categorically stating that it was inappropriate for a political leader to hoist the national flag in an aided school, saying that only a teacher or elected representative of the people was allowed to do so.

However, Bhagwat hoisted the flag defying this order.

In a latest development, RSS members today said that Bhagwat will hoist the flag on January 26 in a school on the outskirts of Palakkad.

Bhagwat will be in Kerala to attend a three-day Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) camp, to be held in a school near Palakkad town from January 26.

"The sarsanghchalakji (RSS chief) always hoists the national flag on Independence Day and Republic Day wherever he is on these days. Since on January 26 he will be in Kerala, he will hoist the flag there. It should only be seen in this light," a senior Sangh functionary said.

Sangh members added that the school where the RSS event is being organised is under the administration of the outfit's Bharatheeya Vidya Nikethan.

"There will be a programme on the morning of January 26 to mark and celebrate Republic Day, when sarsanghchalakji will unfurl the national flag," RSS's state coordinator KK Balram told PTI.

Balram said there was no need to take permission from the local administration as the event was being organised in a Sangh-run school and not in a government institute.

The RSS has a considerable presence in Kerala, where the BJP is seeking to make inroads. Last year, BJP chief Amit Shah had flagged off his Janraksha Yatra in Kerala to protest against alleged violence against its workers in the state.

The state has been witnessing incidents of political violence involving cadres of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the RSS.