CHENNAI: A photo showing a municipal chairman hoisting the national flag while busily talking on a cellphone created much furore on Independence Day, leading to angry comments that it was disrespectful to the national flag.
The photo, taken at the Government Middle School in Pammal, showed Pammal Municipality chairman C V Elangovan hoisting the flag, even as he was keeping a mobile phone between his ear and shoulder. The teachers and other party members were seen anticipating the hoisting of the flag.
However, Elangovan, who is also a former public prosecutor, denied the allegations and said he never hoisted the flag. He said a school teacher gave him the rope while he was talking over the phone and he handed back the rope to the teacher asking him to proceed with the flag hoisting.
Many of the comments said that the politician’s act was a grave disrespect to the national flag.
A few others demanded that politicians must never be called to hoist national flags in schools.
“I am an advocate and I have great respect to my nation. This is the act of a reporter of an unregistered newspaper who approached me for a favour. I asked him to approach via appropriate channels. He never released the photos showing who actually hoisted the flag,” Elangovan told Express.