‘Won’t tolerate insult of national flag’: BJP accuses Congress of inciting violence during farmers’ rally

A day after protesting farmers clashed with Delhi Police in the national capital, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar Wednesday said that India will not tolerate the insult of its national flag at Red Fort.

“The manner in which there was violence in Delhi yesterday, the more it is condemned, the less it is. Action should be against all of those who instigated others. India won’t tolerate the manner in which the Tricolour was insulted at the Red Fort,” Javadekar said.

Addressing a press conference, Javadekar also trained guns at the Congress party saying that “those who have lost in polls” are trying to vitiate the atmosphere in the country.

The opposition party cannot escape its responsibility as it is in power in Punjab, he said, adding that the state government should have arrested criminal elements as a preventive measure as people drove their tractors from there to the protest venue in Delhi.

Security forces at Red Fort Wednesday.

“Rahul Gandhi wasn’t only supporting protest but also instigating. It was the same during CAA, Congress holds rallies, they instigate people to take to streets and agitation begins the next day. It happened during this agitation too. They instigated farmers,” the union minister added.

Javadekar also said that both Congress and Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of the country. He also rubbished links of actor Deep Sidhu with the BJP. Sidhu was among protesters at the Red Fort where a religious flag was hoisted.

Farmers and police clash at ITO in Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)

These parties want violence and unrest in the country at any cost so that they could exploit it, he said, claiming that the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only been rising.

Meanwhile, Farmer unions protesting against the new farm laws Wednesday called off their proposed march to the Parliament on February 1 in view of Republic Day violence.

After two months of peaceful protests on Delhi’s borders and 11 rounds of negotiations with the central government, the farmers’ protest took a violent turn with their Republic Day tractor parade spiralling into chaos Tuesday. One protester died and scores were injured, as mobs resorted to violence and vandalism while forcing their way to the Red Fort and hoisting their flag there.