‘Not a cricket match’: Celebs decry use of Indian flag at US Capitol protests
Four people died in the United States on late Wednesday night after thousands of protesters supporting President Donald Trump, demanding presidential election result to be overturned, stormed into the Capitol. During the chaos, rioters roamed the Capitol building and ransacked the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who is known as a fierce critic of Trump.
Meanwhile, what grabbed the attention of many on the social media was the presence of the Indian flag in the pool of protesters. A video which doing rounds on social media showed a person holding the tri-colour amid Trump supporters who were holding banners and waving the American flag.
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The person’s identity or political affiliations is not known so far.
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi was among those who noticed the Indian flag and asked on Twitter, “Why is there an Indian flag there??? This is one fight we definitely don’t need to participate in.”
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also took to Twitter to criticise the person holding the flag. “Whoever is waving this Indian flag should feel ashamed. Don’t use our tricolour to participate in such violent & criminal acts in another country,” she said on the micro-blogging site.
Meanwhile, comedian Vir Das took a jibe at the person and said, “Every large crowd IS NOT A CRICKET MATCH!”
The violence at the US Capitol was the culmination of months of divisive and escalating rhetoric around the November 3 election, where Trump lost to Joe Biden. Since the election result, Trump has repeatedly made false claims that the vote was rigged while refusing to concede.