Kerala CM orders action against school over RSS chief hoisting national flag on I’Day

Bhagwat had hoisted the national flag at Karnakayamman High School in Palakkad on August 15.

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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed action against the manager and principal of the school in Palakkad, where RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat had hoisted the national flag on Independence Day this year.

The CM reportedly directed the Public Education Department to take action against the school principal and manager for allowing Bhagwat to unfurl the tricolour and thereby violating a circular issued in this regard.

It is also reported that the CM directed the police to examine whether a criminal case will hold on the issue.

Education Minister C Raveendranath told media in Kozhikode on Friday that action will be taken on the basis of the report of the district educational officer (DEO). The minister said that communal interference won’t be allowed in educational institutions.

Bhagwat hoisted the national flag at Karnakayamman High School on the morning of August 15.

“Palakkad district collector had given a report soon after the incident which we have brought to the notice of the government. Based on that, we had directed the DEO to seek explanation from the headmaster of the school. The DEO post was vacant in Palakkad after that and only recently it was filled. Again, we have directed to get explanation on it. The action will be based on the DEO’s report,” Director of Public Instruction KV Mohankumar told TNM.

The Public Education department had issued a circular that the national flag should be hoisted in schools on Independence Day by people's representatives or headmasters.

Palakkad district collector P Marykutty issued a memo to the school, saying that it was not appropriate for a political leader to hoist the national flag at a school. The memo also cited that an elected representative or the principal of the school can do so, but not a political leader.

The RSS, however, had released a statement justifying the chief’s action. Dr Manmohan Vaidya, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh said in the statement that Bhagwat was invited by the school management to unfurl the national flag. On the collector’s notice of restraining Bhagwat from hoisting the flag, the statement said that no other school had been given such directions.

Bhagwat’s action however sparked a row in the state. After the incident, Collector Marykutty was transferred in a bureaucratic reshuffle and appointed as Panchayat Director.