Manmohan Singh Malla of the Congress and Ganesh Joshi of the BJP fight over the flag

It would have been comic if it were not so appallingly tragic and shameful. Two middle-aged men have been caught on camera clinging to a flag pole as they push and heckle each other trying to claim the honour of hoisting the Indian Tricolour on Independence Day.The two angry men were Mussoorie Mayor Manmohan Singh Malla of the Congress and a local BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi and each was adamant that he would unfurl the flag at Gandhi Chowk of the tourist town in Uttarakhand, recently ravaged by floods.On camera, the two men - one in a Gandhi cap and Nehru jacket, the other in politico white with dark glasses - are seen refusing to let go of the pole and snarling at each other as they make attempts to grab the rope that would release the flag. People around try to pull them away and many voices are heard requesting them to do it together.In the end, neithergot to hoist the flag. A two-year-old child was made to do it instead to stop the fracas. The residents of Mussoorie are livid and say it was a disgusting experience.With general elections now only months away, Independence Day celebrations this year were markedly political. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address from the Delhi's Red Fort was not only a defence of his government's 10 years in office, but also a warning against sectarianism, widely interpreted as a jab at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who is expected to be named the BJP's candidate for Prime Minister and whose secular credentials the ruling Congress questions.

At a college in a far corner of his state, the BJP's Mr Modi did not even attempt to cloak his words in ambiguity. He launched a frontal attack on the Prime Minister, slamming his Red Fort address as "uninspiring" and challenging him to a debate on development.Senior BJP leader LK Advani suggested that the country's Independence Day not be used to score political points.