PANJIM: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress indulged in a war of words over the hoisting of the National flag during the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign launched, on Saturday.
Besides, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant launching the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign at Panjim, the BJP also launched the campaign in different constituencies where national flags were distributed to the people requesting them to hoist them in their homes for three days, to celebrate 75 years of India’s independence as ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
Stating that the people of Goa have been requested to hoist the national flag and not the party flag, BJP State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade demanded that Congress should stop politicising the issue by unnecessarily creating controversy.
Tanavade also denied that he had insulted the Tricolour by displaying it upside down during a party programme at Miramar and clarified that he was unfolding the flag
On the other hand, Congress Media Cell Chairman Amarnath Panjikar dared Tanavade to ask Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to hoist the tri-colour at their headquarters and at shakhas and sing National Anthem. “Let BJP convince its mentor RSS to discard ‘Bhagva’ and adopt ‘Tiranga’, which is a symbol of Unity in Diversity,” he said.
Claiming that the Congress party’s contribution to the freedom struggle and post-Independence nation-building is known to everyone, Panjikar said, “Tiranga is in our hearts and we don’t need occasions to display our patriotism. I throw an open challenge to Tanavade to either prove his charge that Congress Party told people not to hoist Tiranga or apologise to Goans.”
The Congress leader also demanded that the BJP should make its stand clear on 2.5 lakh damaged national flags as claimed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.