While Mandya district’s Keragodu is witnessing protests by the opposition after the state government removed the Hanuman flag, Uttara Kannada’s Bhatkal too turned tense after the taluk administration on Wednesday removed a flag and board installed in the name of Veer Savarkar.
On January 21, the local youth erected a flagpost at the Tenginagundi Gram Panchayat in Bhatkal taluk and named it after freedom fighter Veer Savarkar.
The trouble started when the local panchayat officers demolished it. The locals gathered in large numbers, indulged in a verbal spat with the officials and sat on a dharna. Panchayat members said no permission had been taken to erect the flagpost.
Local Hindu activist Govind Naik rubbished the allegations, saying the residents had requested to name the flagpost after Savarkar and also a discussion was held.
Officials refused to accept their argument and Hindu activists who had gathered in large numbers constructed the flagpost. They swore that they will hoist a flag in Savarkar’s name. When the police reached the spot and stopped them from going ahead, there was tension. Additional police forces have been stationed in the area.
Bhatkal Tahsildar Thippeswamy rushed to the spot and spoke to the agitators. Hindu activists told him that they will stop only if all illegal boards and hoardings in the taluk are removed within two weeks. Thippeswamy agreed and agitators calmed down.
This is the second such incident in the last fortnight. On January 14, when local residents of Kjali Panchayat wanted to repaint the newly installed stone board as Devi Nagar, the officials objected to it, citing a mosque nearby.
