Chennai: The Kalakshetra, an iconic institution here, has announced closure of its college till April 6, in the wake of protests by students against alleged sexual harassment and misconduct on the campus.
Students of the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, being run by the Kalakshetra on its campus, resorted to the protest at the “tapovan”, the prayer space at the entrance of the college on Thursday demanding justice. They alleged harassment by a senior faculty and sought appropriate action against him.
As the allegations surfaced a few days ago, chairperson of National Commission of Women (NCW) Rekha Sharma, visited Kalakshetra on Wednesday to enquire about the allegations.
The principal announced that the college will be closed till April 6 from Thursday evening.
“Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts will remain closed from 5.15 pm today to April 6. All inmates are requested to vacate the hostel within two days with immediate effect,” he said in a circular.
Exams scheduled on the above days have been postponed and new dates would be announced in due course, the Principal added.
Meanwhile, Kalakshetra in a statement said the Chairman and the Governing Board is fully appraised of protests and grievances and all steps would be taken to ensure that no person who is involved in any unsavory activity in the Foundation will be spared.
“There have been some allegations which we are considering. Some of the students of the Foundation have been protesting in our campus. The Director and the Deputy director from administration have spoken to the students taking into consideration the sentiments and grievances of the students.
“On 29.03.2023, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) had also visited our campus and made enquiries about the allegations. The Foundation had already sought explanation from the persons against whom some allegations have been made and on receipt of their explanation, the Chairman and the Governing Board will consider the appropriate action that has to be taken in accordance with its Rules and Regulations and in conformity with law.”
“The Chairman and the Governing Board is fully appraised of protests and grievances and all steps will be taken to ensure that no person who is involved in any unsavory activity in the Foundation will be spared,” the statement said.
Carnatic musician and writer T M Krishna called upon the Kalakshetra management to take necessary action to address the “very serious complaints.”
“I am writing to you regarding the complaints of sexual harassment and toxicity in the Kalakshetra environment that has been raised over the past few months,” he said in an open letter to the college principal requesting for action.
Shillong: The opposition Congress staged a demonstration in Shillong on Tuesday, protesting the disqualification of its leader Rahul Gandhi from Parliament.
Congress legislative party leader V Lyngdoh along with MLAs Charles Marngar, Celestine Lyngdoh and Saleng Sangma joined the protest at the Congress Bhavan here.
Armed with placards and posters, party workers raised slogans, condemning the action against Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification is suppression of democratic rights and freedom by the NDA government at the Centre,” V Lyngdoh said.
“They want to suppress the truth that our leader has been raising in Parliament about the misgovernance of the BJP,” he added.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Friday disqualified Gandhi as MP from Wayanad in Kerala, a day after a Surat court convicted him in the 2019 criminal defamation case for his remark, “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
PARIS — French unions vowed to continue demonstrations next week amid another day of protests Tuesday against French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reforms — the 10th general strike this year.
Clashes broke out between small groups of protesters and police, especially in Paris, where some people also ransacked a supermarket. But the number of protesters also decreased almost everywhere in the country compared to last week, according to estimates by both French authorities and unions. Around 730,000 people protested in total, compared to more than 1 million last Thursday, according to the French interior ministry. Estimates by trade union CGT, meanwhile, calculated that the number of protesters declined from 3.5 million last week to approximately 2 million on Tuesday.
But Parisians can expect some relief for their noses Wednesday when garbage collectors are set to resume work after weeks of a strike that has left piles of rubbish stacked along streets.
The protests have been running since the beginning of the year, prompted by Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and increase the level of contributions required to receive a full pension. Discontent mounted earlier this month when the government decided to force the measures through parliament without a vote, raising concerns that the protests could turn into a broader anti-government movement like the Yellow Jackets, which brought months of unrest during Macron’s first term in office.
The strikes on Tuesday hit sectors including public transport and schools as well as energy plants and oil refineries, causing fuel shortages.
But Macron’s administration has not shown signs that it will revise the reforms. Government spokesperson Olivier Véran on Tuesday rejected a proposal by the CFDT union to put the measures on ice and find a mediator to resolve the situation.
But Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has invited union representatives to meet at the beginning of next week for talks, according to CFDT leader Laurent Berger.
“The anger begins to rise, even among the most peaceful protesters,” Berger told broadcaster TMC Tuesday evening after protests died down.
Major trade unions are still planning a further day of strikes and protests next Thursday.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
New Delhi: Proceedings in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 4 p.m and 2 p.m respectively amid protests by Congress-led Opposition over disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Parliament.
Speaker Om Birla adjourned the proceedings in less than a minute after the lower house convened for the day.
The moment Birla assumed his seat, Congress MPs, who came to the House wearing black clothes, started throwing papers at his chair.
“I want to run the House with dignity,” the Speaker said and adjourned the proceedings till 4 p.m.
Congress MPs and some opposition members came wearing black clothes in Lok Sabha, to protest against disqualification of Rahul Gandhi’s membership.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Rajya Sabha when Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned the House till 2 p.m.
Earlier in the day, a meeting was held in the chamber of leader of the opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, to deliberate on a joint strategy in the house.
Apart from the Congress, leaders from DMK, SP, JDU, BRS, CPM, RJD, NCP, CPI, IUML, MDMK, Kerala Congress, TMC, RSP, AAP, J&K National Conference and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray group) attended the meeting.
The Congress MPs have also moved an adjournment notice in Lok Sabha against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification.
In Rajya Sabha, opposition MPs have moved a notice for suspension of business over Adani issue and misuse of agencies against political leaders.
Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the prime minister and his allies will barrel ahead this week with the overhaul plan. Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying the deep divisions were threatening to weaken the military.
In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday the prime minister had dismissed Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted “we must all stand strong against refusal.”
Tens of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets in protest after Netanyahu’s announcement, blocking Tel Aviv’s main artery, transforming the Ayalon highway into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags and lighting a large bonfire in the middle of the road.
Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence. Police scuffled with protesters and sprayed the crowd with a water cannon.
Inon Aizik, 27, said he came to demonstrate outside Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem because “bad things are happening in this country,” referring to the judicial overhaul as “a quick legislative blitz.”
Netanyahu’s decision came less than a day after Gallant, a former senior general, called for a pause in the controversial legislation until after next month’s Independence Day holidays, citing the turmoil in the ranks of the military.
Gallant had voiced concerns that the divisions in society were hurting morale in the military and emboldening Israel’s enemies. “I see how the source of our strength is being eroded,” Gallant said.
While several other Likud members had indicated they might follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his dismissal.
Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu’s public diplomacy minister, said that Netanyahu summoned Gallant to his office and told him “that he doesn’t have any faith in him anymore and therefore he is fired.”
Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that “the security of the state of Israel always was and will always remain my life mission.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Gallant’s dismissal “harms national security and ignores warnings of all defense officials.”
Israel’s consul general in New York City, Assaf Zamir, resigned in protest.
Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace him. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced Sunday he was backing the prime minister.
Netanyahu’s government is pushing ahead for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. It also seeks to pass laws that would grant parliament the authority to override Supreme Court decisions with a basic majority and limit judicial review of laws.
Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
But critics say the constellation of laws will remove the checks and balances in Israel’s democratic system and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months to demonstrate against the plan in the largest demonstrations in the country’s 75-year history.
Leaders of Israel’s vibrant high-tech industry have said the changes will scare away investors, former top security officials have spoken out against the plan and key allies, including the United States and Germany, have voiced concerns.
In recent weeks discontent has even surged from within Israel’s army – the most popular and respected institution among Israel’s Jewish majority. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks.
Israel’s military is facing a surge in fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and concerns that archenemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear-weapons capability.
Violence both in Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated over the past few weeks to heights unseen in years.
Manuel Trajtenberg, head of an influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said, “Netanyahu can dismiss his defense minister, he cannot dismiss the warnings he heard from Gallant.”
Meanwhile, an Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so. It said he was not above the law.
“A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesters opposed to the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”
The prime minister responded saying the appeal should be dismissed and said that the Supreme Court didn’t have grounds to intervene.
Netanyahu is barred by the country’s attorney general from directly dealing with his government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement he is bound to, and which the Supreme Court acknowledged in a ruling over Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu, is spearheading the overhaul.
But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unshackled from the attorney general’s decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and “mend the rift” in the nation. That declaration prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement.
The fast-paced legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory and toward a burgeoning constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
“We are at the start of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement over the source of authority and legitimacy of different governing bodies,” he said.
Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he will try to seek an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Mumbai: The Congress’ Maharashtra unit on Sunday carried out vociferous protests in all districts in the state gainst the Bharatiya Janata Party for the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha.
The protests were led by state President Nana Patole from Nagpur, Congress Legislative Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, other senior leaders, Regional Working President Naseem Khan, and Mumbai party chief Bhai Jagtap.
They raised slogans against the ruling BJP at the Centre and said that this was “a murder of democracy”, but the Congress would not be cowed down and would continue its “struggle for freedom from the BJP’s dictatorship”.
Patole, Thorat, Khan, Chavan and other leaders said that Gandhi is being punished for raising the burning issues concerning the people, and exposing the “corrupt nexus” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his “industrialist friends”.
They also demanded a probe into how and whose ill-gotten wealth had gone into one industrialist’s companies and why the Centre is scared of Gandhi’s revelations on them.
The Congress state, cities and district units carried out a daylong ‘satyagraha’ across the state, and in Pune, a signature campaign in Gandhi’s favour was launched, while in other places, the protestors sported black badges and masks amid other forms of protests.
The agitation was spearheaded by Patole, Thorat, Khan, Jagtap, ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan, Vilas Muttemwar, Rajendra Mulak, Wajahat Mirza, and Madhu Chavan, who said that “today’s Satyagraha is the beginning of a new revolution for freedom from dictatorship”.
New Delhi: Congress workers across the country on Sunday organised “Sankalp Satyagraha” to protest against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha, with party president Mallikarjun Kharge lashing out at the ruling BJP and asking why it is pained if fugitives such as Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi are criticised.
While in Delhi, the police denied permission to the Congress to hold its protest programme at Rajghat, the police in Gujarat detained several party functionaries for holding the stir.
.@INCIndia‘s Samvidhan Bachao, Loktantra Bachao Sankalp Satyagraha has just begun at Rajghat with hundreds of leaders and workers participating. The Satyagraha will continue till 5pm. pic.twitter.com/dF6a4pAYAS
In the national capital, the Congress put up a stage outside Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial for its day-long protest programme after the permission was denied.
In her address at the protest programme, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said a martyred prime minister’s son, who walked thousands of kilometres for national unity, can never insult the country.
She was referring to her father and late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated in 1991.
Priyanka Gandhi said the time had come to raise her voice against an “arrogant government” as barring Rahul Gandhi from contesting elections does not bode well for the country and its democracy.
“My family’s blood has nurtured democracy in this country. We are ready to do anything for this country’s democracy. Great leaders of Congress laid the foundation of democracy in this country. If they think they can scare us, they are wrong. We will not be scared,” she said.
संसद में मेरे शहीद पिता का अपमान किया। शहीद के बेटे को ‘मीर जाफर’ कहा गया।
BJP के CM कहते हैं कि इनके पिता कौन हैं? PM भरी संसद में ‘नेहरू सरनेम’ पर सवाल उठाते हैं?
आप पर तो कोई केस नहीं होता, आपकी सदस्यता रद्द नहीं होती।
The Congress leader alleged that Rahul Gandhi was disqualified for questioning the prime minister on industrialist Gautam Adani, and said people will give a befitting reply to those behind the action.
Slamming the BJP over its charge that Rahul Gandhi insulted OBCs with his remark for which he has been convicted in a criminal defamation case, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said why is the ruling party pained if fugitives such as Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi are criticised.
Kharge also thanked all Opposition parties for standing with Rahul Gandhi and the Congress to save democracy.
“They talk of OBC now, is Lalit Modi OBC, is Nirav Modi OBC, is Mehul Choksi OBC, they ran away with people’s money. If they are fugitives why are you pained if they are criticised? You (BJP) punish the person who works to save the country and send those abroad who loot the country,” Kharge said.
अहमदाबाद में पत्रकार ने सवाल पूछा- हजारों लोग मर गए, क्या आपको दुःख नहीं होता?
तो इन्होंने कहा- अगर ड्राइवर ने गलती से किसी कुत्ते को मारा तो दुःख तो होता है। जिन्होंने जनता को ‘कुत्ता’ कहा, वो आज OBC की बात करते हैं।
“Rahul Gandhi ji is fighting for the people of this country, for the women, for the youth, fighting against unemployment and inflation,” he said.
Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after a court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted him in a 2019 defamation case. The disqualification will prevent Gandhi (52), a four-time MP, from contesting elections for eight years unless a higher court stays the conviction.
Congress workers in many states and union territories like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat took part in the protest programme.
In Gujarat, the police detained state Congress chief Jagdish Tahor, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Amit Chavda and senior leader Bharatsinh Solanki along with party workers when they arrived at Lal Darwaza in Ahmedabad to protest.
The protesters were taken to the police stadium where they continued to shout slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“We have the power of Truth and resolution of Satyagraha. To expose the loot of BJP, with a firm determination to protect democracy, each and every worker of Gujarat Pradesh Congress is with Rahul Gandhi,” Thakor tweeted.
“Even before we could start the programme, the police detained us. We will continue our protest against the dictatorship of the BJP government, which puts even the erstwhile British rule to shame,” said Vadodara Congress party leader Rutvij Joshi.
‘संकल्प सत्याग्रह’ में लोकतंत्र की रक्षा के लिए आवाज बुलंद करने और @RahulGandhi जी की सदस्यता को गलत तरीके से रद करने के खिलाफ़ शांति पूर्वक कर रहें धरणा प्रदर्शन में तानाशाहों के इशारे @GujaratPMC अध्यक्ष @JennyThummar जी समेत अनेक नेता और कार्यकर्ताओ की गिरफ्तारी कि गई! pic.twitter.com/p0KbIViGtI
— Gujarat Pradesh Mahila Congress (@GujaratPMC) March 26, 2023
Jammu and Kashmir Congress protest:
In Srinagar, scores of party activists led by former JKPCC president Ghulam Ahmad Mir protested at the party’s headquarters at M A Road.
Speaking to reporters, Mir said not only the Congress party, but all non-BJP secular parties have come together, and are “wailing over the death of democracy” in the country.
“The BJP government has not left any sign of the Constitution in the country, all the steps it takes are illegal and undemocratic,” he charged.
Punjab, Haryana Congress protest:
The Punjab and Haryana units of Congress also observed the satyagraha.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that the action against Rahul Gandhi was taken because the BJP-led Centre was “scared” of his next speech in Parliament on the Adani issue.
Warring said a “tearing hurry” was shown by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in disqualifying Rahul Gandhi allegedly at the behest of the BJP-led government.
Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan said Rahul Gandhi has been raising his voice against the BJP-led Centre on various issues.”They want to silence his voice, but they are mistaken,” he said.
Charging that institutions are being attacked in the country, Punjab’s Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said it is time for “all democratic forces to get together”.
Rajasthan Congress protest:
In Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the party’s state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and several other leaders took part in the protest.
— Rajasthan Congress Sevadal (@SevadalRJ) March 26, 2023
Dubbing Gandhi’s disqualification as a “murder of democracy”, Dotasra charged that the BJP labels anyone who raises their voice against it as “anti-nationals” and distorts their public image through social media.
“Rahul Gandhi is someone whose grandmother and father sacrificed their lives for the sake of the nation,” he added.
New Delhi: Following senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case on Thursday, the party has planned mega protests in the coming days, taking all like-minded parties along.
Congress President and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, has called a meeting of the opposition parties on Friday, following which the MPs will march to the Vijay Chowk. On Friday evening, all the state Congress Presidents and legislative party leaders have been called for a meeting to chalk out plans for nation-wide protests.
According to sources, the Congress leadership has also sought time to meet President Droupadi Murmu on this issue.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of Congress MPs and steering committee members held at Kharge’s residence.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “This is not just a legal issue, but political as well since the ruling party wants to intimidate the opposition leaders.”
On Thursday morning, Rahul Gandhi was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname. The Congress leader, however, was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal the Surat court verdict.
The case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by BJP MLA and ex-Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying “how come all thieves have the common surname Modi” while campaigning in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “This government is clearly relying on one set of tactics to throttle opposition voices inside the Parliament, and a second set of tactics outside it. So if you say something outside the Parliament, they wouldn’t allow the House to run.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday he would postpone a controversial reform that would give parliament more control over the country’s judiciary, after weeks of mass protests against the legislation.
“When there’s an option to avoid civil war through dialogue, I take a time off for dialogue,” he said in a press statement delivered shortly after 8 p.m. local time amid ongoing protests involving supporters from both sides. He added that “out of national responsibility,” he is delaying the final readings of the divisive judicial appointments bill until the next session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, which starts in early May.
Netanyahu sparked weeks of chaos with proposals to rein in Israel’s top court, while he is currently on trial for corruption himself and could benefit from the overhaul.
The proposed reform consists of a series of bills that would grant the Knesset more oversight over the country’s judiciary — including how judges are selected, what laws the Supreme Court can rule on, as well as overturning Supreme Court decisions.
Monday’s announcement follows calls for action from President Isaac Herzog, who had demanded earlier in the day that the government “halt the legislative process immediately” in a statement on Twitter.
The legal overhaul was an important part of Netanyahu’s program upon returning to power last December to head a coalition government that has been described as the most right-wing in Israel’s history.
Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said that Netanyahu, who is standing trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, should not be involved in a judicial overhaul before the end of his court cases, in case of a potential conflict of interest.
Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing, calling the corruption charges “a witch hunt.”
The judicial reform has triggered enormous protests nationwide in the past three months. On Sunday evening, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in cities across the country to oppose Netanyahu’s dismissal of his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for challenging the reform, announced by the prime minister’s office in a brief statement.
In reaction, Gallant wrote on Twitter: “The security of the state of Israel always was and will always remain my life mission.”
The growing popular dissent against the judicial overhaul grew Monday as the leader of Israel’s top trade union called for a general strike, according to French newswire AFP. According to The Times of Israel, all flights were grounded at the country’s main international airport, while public hospitals only provided emergency care.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered once again in front of parliament on Monday to protest the reforms, while far-right leaders, like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, had called their supporters to a join counter-rally in support of the reform, which was reportedly also attended by several thousand government supporters later in the day.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Bhopal: Members of the Sikh community in Bhopal and Indore took to the streets on Tuesday to protest against the acts of vandalism by pro-Khalistan sympathisers outside India’s diplomatic premises in London and San Francisco.
“We strongly condemn the incident outside the London High Commission. These anti-social elements disrespecting the tricolour are not part of the Sikh community,” said religious leader Gyani Dileep Singh during the protest at Roshanpura Square in Bhopal.
Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson and Sikh activist Neha Bagga said it was regrettable that a few Sikhs working at the behest of anti-India forces were defaming the entire community.
“This is the time for the Sikh community to come forward openly against such anti-social elements sitting in foreign countries,” Bagga said.
In Indore, Sikhs gathered at the city’s Regal square holding the tricolour and placards carrying patriotic messages, raised the slogan “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, and said they would not tolerate insult to the national flag.
“Many people from the Sikh community have sacrificed their lives for India’s freedom. Today some foreign forces are conspiring against the unity and integrity of India. We will not allow the designs of these forces to succeed,” a protestor said.
State BJP spokesperson Narendra Saluja, who was among the protesters, said, “Some anti-social elements funded by Pakistan are trying to defame the Sikh community through the incidents in London and San Francisco. We oppose such elements.”
The national flag is a symbol of respect and self-respect for the Sikh community, he said.
