Saddened by insult to Tricolour on R-day: PM

Modi slams Republic Day vandalism, hails India’s response to the Covid pandemic

NEW DELHI: The country has been saddened by the “insult to the Tricolour” on Republic Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday in his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address, referring to the hoisting of the Sikh religious flag and a farmers’ union flag next to the national flag by protesting farmers at Red Fort.

In his first address to the nation in 2021, a day before finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union budget in Parliament, Modi celebrated India’s vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and the Indian cricket team’s triumph against Australia in the Test series, and called for the infusion of a new hope.

“This month, there has been very good news from the cricket pitch too,” the PM said in his radio address, which he delivers on the last Sunday of every month.

”Our cricket team, after initial setbacks, made a grand comeback, winning the series in Australia. The hard work and teamwork of our players is inspirational. Amidst all this, the country was saddened by the insult to the Tricolour on the 26th of January in Delhi.”

He added: “We have to infuse times to come with new hope...last year, we displayed exemplary patience and courage {in the fight against the viral disease}. This year too, we have to work hard to attain our resolve. We have to take our country forward at a faster pace.”

A tractor rally by farmers to protest against three laws passed by Parliament in September to open up agricultural markets turned violent at Red Fort on Republic Day. In expressing his sadness at the insult to the Tricolour, Modi echoed the sentiment expressed by President Ram Nath Kovind, who said in his speech to Parliament on Friday that the “national flag and a holy day like Republic Day were insulted in the past few days.”