AGARTALA:
Former chief minister and leader of opposition Manik Sarkar has slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for their Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, stating that the saffron party had no role during the freedom movement of India.
Sarkar was attending a blood donation camp organised by the Student Federation of India (SFI) on August 8, where he claimed that BJP is trying to rewrite history in a new way.
“It was on August 8, 1942, when Mahatma Gandhi at an All India Congress Committee (AICC) conference raised the slogan ‘Do or Die’ in a bid to force the Britishers to quit India. Likewise, in 1921 in Goa, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) demanded full freedom through a massive movement during a conference of Congress. Farmers, people, and the then-student federations of CPIM worked and fought for freedom. However, BJP had no role in it,” he said.
“Now those who are ruling the country had no role in the freedom struggle. They betrayed the people of India, and helped the British. I have observed they have launched ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign, but surprisingly, they didn’t accept the Indian national flag. Their leaders said this can’t be the flag of India. As per the leaders of the BJP or its wings, the national flag of India will be ‘saffron’,” Sarkar alleged.
He further claimed that in the year 2000, BJP and its allies hoisted this national flag when they were in power at the Centre.
“Now they are saying Har Ghar Tiranga, but they are not using the word ‘national flag’. There must be a purpose behind this. They have understood that they have lost the ground and lost the faith of the people, and hence, they are now trying to rewrite history in a new way,” the veteran CPIM leader told reporters.