MP Cong leaders trying to hand over tricolour to RSS chief stopped midway by police

A group of Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders on their way to hand over the national flag to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday were stopped midway by the police in Bhopal.

The five-member group, protesting against the Sangh allegedly not displaying the tricolour as its social media profile picture despite appeals from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was trying to reach a mall here where Bhagwat was scheduled to address an RSS function in the evening.

Police stopped them near the Madhya Pradesh Examination Board office at around 4:30 PM.

''We were tailed since 11 am by the police, which even stormed our state party office. The police told us Bhagwat enjoys Z category security and therefore, we are not allowed to go near him. They stopped us midway,'' MP Congress media department vice chairperson Sangeeta Sharma told PTI.

Queried on why they wanted to hand over the tricolour to Bhagwat, she said the RSS had not kept the national flag as the profile picture of its social media accounts despite such an appeal made by PM Modi to people under the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign to mark 75 years of Independence.

Sharma added that the RSS, the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had not unfurled the flag at its headquarters in Nagpur for 52 years.

Speaking on the issue, Bhopal Zone I Deputy Commissioner of Police Sai Krishna Thota said,''Bhagwat is a Z plus protectee. No one can meet him (casually). If someone announces of forcibly giving a flag, we can't let them''.

Three days ago, the RSS had slammed critics on the tricolour issue and had asked them not to politicise it.

''Such things should not be politicised. The RSS has already extended its support to 'Har Ghar Tiranga' and 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' programmes. The Sangh had in July appealed for full support and participation of people and swayamsevaks in the programmes to be organised by the government, private bodies and the Sangh-related organizations,'' RSS Akhil Bhartiya Prachar Pramukh Sunil Ambekar had said in Nagpur.

Politics should not be played on such matters, he had added.