Locals say the flagpole-streetlight at Shivajinagar’s Chandni Chowk area was the second such streetlight installed in Asia more than 100 years ago. CREDIT: X
Credit: X/@RamachandraYar2
As the controversy over the removal of the saffron flag (Hanuman Dhwaja) in Mandya district snowballed into a major political slugfest, a green flag, hoisted on a British era flagpole-streetlight in Shivajinagar by the committee of a dargah, was replaced by the national flag on Tuesday.
The move came as a section of the people raised the issue of the Shivajinagar flag to condemn the government action in Mandya district. According to locals, the flagpole-streetlight at Shivajinagar’s Chandni Chowk area was the second such streetlight installed in Asia more than 100 years ago.
The flagpole gained attention on X (formerly Twitter) after a few users shared pictures and videos of the green flag fluttering atop the pole.
BJP MLA Basanagouda R Patil Yatnal also shared a post on X, tagging the flag post, and wrote: “Is it not against our flag code to fly a green flag similar to the color of the enemy country in the public area? Immediately, remove this and fly the national flag here. Shivajinagar is in India, not Pakistan.”
By Tuesday evening, a tricolour flag replaced the green flag. While the initial reports claimed that it was replaced by the Shivajinagar police, police sources confirmed to DH that none from the police department touched it.
Speaking to DH, Rizwan Arshad, Shivajinagar MLA, said the flag was replaced by a committee overseeing the dargah. He told DH that the dargah was celebrating its annual Urs and had, therefore, hoisted the green flag. Usually Urs goes on for a week, during which the flag is hoisted every year. “The Urs was coming to an end and the committee that oversees the dargah didn’t want any commotion because of the flag, hence they replaced it.”