Indian mission vandalism in UK: Cong, BJP condemn incident

The Congress Monday condemned the pulling down of the national flag at the Indian High Commission in London by pro-Khalistan elements, saying the British government must be held accountable as it has “failed miserably” in its basic responsibility.
The tricolour flying atop the Indian High Commission in London was grabbed by a group of protesters waving separatist Khalistani flags and chanting pro-Khalistan slogans on Sunday, leading to an arrest.
Reacting to the incident, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “The pulling down of the national flag at the Indian High Commission in London by pro-Khalistani elements is totally unacceptable and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
“The British Government has failed miserably in its most basic responsibility and must be held accountable,” he asserted.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor urged the government to take up the security of Indian missions with host countries to ensure that incidents like the one in the UK do not take place.
Asked about the incident, Tharoor said, “I am deeply disappointed when I see that a friendly government does not take elementary police precautions to ensure that this kind of behaviour is not happening.”
“We already have an attack in Australia, now we have had an attack in London… are we going to allow this to happen everywhere? Our government should now go to all the host governments where there is such a possibility — Australia, Canada, the US, and the UK — and tell them that they must take extra special precautions outside our missions. It is our responsibility to demand it and then it is the diplomatic responsibility of those governments to provide it,” Tharoor told reporters outside Parliament.
The host countries must take necessary measures “to ensure that our honour is not insulted in this way”, the former minister of state for external affairs said. This is something that is not acceptable to any Indian, he added.
India on Sunday night summoned the British deputy high commissioner and demanded an explanation over the complete “absence of security” after videos of pulling down of the Indian flag at the Indian mission in London during a protest by pro-Khalistan elements emerged on social media.
Top British officials have said that the UK government will take the security of the Indian High Commission here “seriously”, as they condemned as “disgraceful” and “completely unacceptable” the vandalism at the Indian mission by a group of protesters waving separatist Khalistani flags.
Removal of Tricolour ‘shameful’: BJP
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa and party’s national spokesperson R.P. Singh on Monday described the incident, in which some pro-Khalistani groups allegedly took down the Tricolour from the Indian High Commission in the UK, as ‘shameful’.
Addressing a joint press conference in the national capital, the BJP leaders said that strict action should be taken against those involved in such acts. Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana was also present on the occasion.
Sirsa said: “Those who defame India can never be Sikhs. There are some anti-national elements against India who along with some people are trying to defame India by carrying out such shameful incidents which we deeply regret.”
Appealing to the entire Sikh community and especially the Sikhs living abroad, he said that there is a need to identify such anti-national elements and teach them a lesson.
“When the lives of Sikhs were under threat in Afghanistan, even the powerful countries failed to help them but due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi everyone was rescued safely,” Sirsa added.
He said that some people are trying to defame the Sikh community by doing such acts but they do not know that no Sikh can ever act against someone’s religion. Today Sikhs are seen as a messiah all over the world, he added.
Sirsa said that whatever Modi has done for the Sikhs has not happened in the history of Indian politics in the last 75 years and the ‘anti-Sikh’ and ‘anti-India’ elements are not tolerating this.
During the press conference, R.P Singh said: “Some people are sponsored by ISI, which also funds anti-India activities. These people are defaming the entire Sikh community but they forget that the names of martyrs like Lance Naik Karam Singh, Naik Subedar Rana Singh, General Arora etc. No Sikh can separate himself from the tricolour.”
“Whenever there is an attack on any High Commission inside any country it is shameful because it is the responsibility of that country to ensure the security of the High Commission,” Singh said in reference to the UK government.
“Such anti-national elements think that the consequences of what happens outside will be felt in Delhi or inside the country, but those who harbour such hopes will not be able to succeed in their nefarious designs,” he said.