Madhya Pradesh panchayat dept employee sacked as sarpanch not allowed to unfurl tricolour over caste

Bhopal: The authorities have terminated the service of a panchayat department employee after a sarpanch was not allowed to unfurl the national flag at a village in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district on Republic Day due to his caste.

The alleged incident took place in Tarena village panchayat under Biaora tehsil of Rajgarh district on Friday, following which Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh alleged the sarpanch faced discrimination for being a Dalit.

District Panchayat's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Akshay Temrawal on Saturday night said Tarena gram panchayat's employment assistant Lakhan Singh Sondhiya got the flag unfurled by another person, instead of the village sarpanch, on Republic Day.

The matter pertaining to depriving the sarpanch of his rights has come to light, he said.

The service of employment assistant Sondhiya has been terminated with immediate effect, Temrawal said.

After the incident, sarpanch Man Singh Verma had alleged that employment assistant Lakhan Singh got the national flag unfurled by another person during an event in their village on January 26.

"It happened because I am a Verma," he claimed.

The sarpanch subsequently complained to Biaora Janpad Panchayat's CEO Ishwar Verma.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had demanded action against the employee who unfurled the flag in place of the sarpanch, and asked if it was a crime to be from the Scheduled Caste.

"Does the sarpanch not have the right to hoist the flag in the Panchayat Bhawan? I request the chief minister that such guilty Rojgar Sahayak Lakhan Singh should be immediately suspended and action should be taken under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act," Singh said in a post on X on Saturday.