India flag taken down in UK: Sikhs in Delhi flay 'disrespectful act' of Khalistan supporters
New Delhi, March 20: Hundreds of people from the Sikh community on Monday gathered outside the British High Commission to protest "disrespectful act" of alleged Khalistan supporters towards the Indian flag at the High Commission of India in the UK.
They demanded that the authorities concerned take action against the accused and ensure the proper safety of the Indian embassy in the United Kingdom.
At the protest, they also raised slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram". Condemning the act, one of the protesters said, "The Khalistani flag was raised instead of India's flag, which is wrong as we are Sikhs of India, and we love India."
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to all members of the Sikh community that before replacing the Indian flag with the Khalistani one, think once about how you are an Indian."
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa also released a video of himself addressing the attempt to pull down the Indian flag. He said, "We condemn the attempt to bring down the Indian flag at the embassy in the United Kingdom. The people involved in such incidents do not represent Sikh feelings at all."
"This is the same flag when the Sikhs of Afghanistan had pleaded for help across the world, but no one stepped forward. At that time, the Indian PM sent a special ship to evacuate the Indians from there. This is the same flag for the safety of which Army jawans deployed at the border are willing to give up their lives," he added.
Sirsa also appealed to the people of the Sikh community to love the Indian flag as much as they love their religion.
Notably, a pro-Khalistan protester in London climbed the High Commission of India's balcony and pulled down the Indian flag, a day before on Sunday.
A video of the same incident had gone viral on social video. In the video, the Khalistani protestor can be seen on the balcony attempting to bring down the Indian flag. At the end of the video, another man reaches the balcony from inside to avert any more harm to the flag.
Sikhs of India have given a loud and clear message to the world through their protest at British High Commission…
India is our homeland and Sikhs stand with the nation and Tiranga ????????@ANI @ZeeNews @PTI_News @republic pic.twitter.com/kt80QluRzV — Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) March 20, 2023
The senior-most UK diplomat in New Delhi was summoned on Sunday evening after the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom was vandalised.
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"India finds unacceptable the indifference of the UK Government to the security of Indian diplomatic premises and personnel in the UK," the MEA press release said. Demanding "immediate steps" from the UK Government, the official press release from the MEA said, "It is expected that the UK Government would take immediate steps to identify, arrest and prosecute each one of those involved in today's incident, and put in place stringent measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents."
British High Commissioner Alex Ellis condemned the attack on the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom. He condemned the "disgraceful acts" and called them totally unacceptable.
"I condemn the disgraceful acts today against the people and premises of the High Commission of India - totally unacceptable," British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis tweeted.
- ANI
