Zoom News : Aug 23, 2021, 07:03 AM
New Delhi: The Opposition on Sunday took the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to task for placing its party flag on top of the tricolour while paying respect to the mortal remains of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh in Lucknow.“Is it ok to place party flag over Indian flag in New India?” Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV tweeted.“BJP flag on top of tricolour! Are self-proclaimed patriots respecting or insulting the tricolour???” the Youth Congress tweeted in Hindi from its official handle.Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari also criticized the BJP on the issue.“Party above the Nation. Flag above the Tricolor. BJP as usual: no regret, no repentance, no sorrow, no grief,” he tweeted.The Opposition expressed its ire as a photograph, tweeted by the BJP, shows Kalyan Singh's body lying in state draped by the national flag but half of it was seen to be covered up by the saffron party’s flag.Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief J.P. Nadda paid their last respects to Kalyan Singh in Lucknow.Singh, who was ailing for some time, breathed his last aged 89 at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow on Saturday night.He was admitted to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) earlier on July 4 due to an infection and reduced consciousness level.He died due to sepsis and multi-organ failure, the hospital said in a statement.Uttar Pradesh has announced three-day mourning and a holiday on Monday when the former chief minister's last rites will be performed.