Attempts by the district administration to convince Kannada activists to remove the Kannada flag that they had put up without permission in front of the Belagavi City Corporation failed in Belagavi on Tuesday.
Officers of the police and other departments tried to speak to leaders of Kannada groups and asked them to put up the flag post and a flag after obtaining due permission. Activists argued that the government could issue permits with retrospective effect.
A meeting of Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath with activists in his office failed to convince them. They countered the argument of officers that the government should treat the flag issue just as it had handled the Sangolli Rayanna and Shivaji Circle issue in Peeranwadi and accord them post-facto permits.
Corporation commissioner K.G. Jagadish, who visited the spot, asked the activists to take down the flag in the evening as per the flag code. However, activist Srinivas Talukar argued that the flag code was not applicable to the Kannada flag.
Activists celebrated Kuvempu Jayanti near the flag post by singing the poet’s songs and paying respects to his portrait. They said that they had slept on the road, guarding the pole on Monday night. They would do continue to do so till the government legalised the erection of the flag pole.
Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti Youth Wing members took a rally to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and demanded that the government explain how it had allowed a flag post to be erected without due permits.
Meanwhile, a Kannada flag near the Rani Channamma Circle was damaged when a sugarcane-laden lorry rammed it on the side. Videos of the statue without the flag were circulated on social media, raising concerns about the safety of the statue and with messages stating miscreants had damaged the pole. Police Commissioner K. Thiyagarajan released a CCTV footage that showed the lorry hitting the flag, helping cool down tempers.
