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Congress in Arunachal slams Rijiju for cutting cake sporting India’s flag, map
The Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress demanded the sacking of Rijiju, Mein and Chai over the “dissection of the country on a cake.”
The All Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Saturday condemned Union minister Kiren Rijiju and two others, including the state’s deputy chief minister Chowna Mein, for allegedly showing disrespect to the national flag.
The APCC said the leaders had cut a cake sporting the tricolour and Indian map with a local dao (sword), which is akin to showing disrespect to the national flag.
The Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress (APYC) had on Friday demanded the sacking of Rijiju, Mein and Chai over the ‘dissection of the country on a cake’.
The trio had reportedly cut the contentious cake during a function on Thursday to flag off Tiranga Yatra, organised by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the BJP’s youth wing.
“The act of the BJP ministers, legislators as well as that of the party’s leaders is condemnable. Using a sword to cut and disfigure the national tricolour and map is an act of total disgrace and also disrespect and dishonour to country’s map and flag,” state Congress President Takam Sanjoy said in a statement.
This is unconstitutional under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, Sanjoy added.
The Congress chief also said this is not the first time the BJP leaders have desecrated the national flag.
“The BJP leaders who claim to be the most patriotic and nationalist people have time and again disrespected the tricolour as it is in their culture to do so. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used the national flag as a handkerchief on International Yoga Day and on another occasion he presented an autographed flag to a chef,” Sanjoy said.
He also cited the instance of former BJP legislator Gopal Krishna Nema who had walked on a picture bearing the Indian flag.
Meanwhile, the APCC criticised the rivals for spreading wrong information about 12 Congress ZPMs from West Siang district joining the BJP.
Neither Rijiju nor the Arunachal Pradesh BJP has officially reacted to the allegation.
