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Sarpanch removes religious flag, protest turns violent
Amrita Chaudhry Posted online: Saturday , Feb 20, 2010 at 0044 hrs
Tension gripped this small village on Friday evening after sarpanch
Lakhwinder Singh allegedly removed the religious flag of the Ravidass
community.
The situation turned volatile after leaders of the community, backed
by members of the Ambedkar Sena and Bahujan Samaj Party, poured out on
the village streets and the GT Road in protest.
Lakhwinder Singh along with two other persons has been arrested while
the religious flag has been reinstalled at the village dharamshala.
It has been learnt that attempts were being made by the sarpanch for
over a month to remove the flag which has been flying high over the
dharamshala for over 40 years now. As the news spread, people from
nearby towns and cities also began to pour in and the protest soon
turned violent.
People threw stones and broke the shop owned by the sarpanch and also
pelted stones at this house.
Protestors laid siege on the national highway for over two hours and
threatened to launch a stringent protest if the police did not arrest
the sarpanch.
The police, meanwhile, were forced to resort to lathicharge to
disburse the crowd, which left more than five people injured. They
have been rushed to Ludhiana for medical aid.
Commissioner Ludhiana (Urban) Ishwar Singh said, "We have taken
appropriate action to the satisfaction of the protestors. The
situation is under control."
Meanwhile, SHO Devinder Gurjar said, "We had warned the village
sarpanch last month against taking any such step. He had assured us
that nothing would happen. Lakhwinder had claimed that the dharmshala
is a common place for all communities had hence the Ravidass community
flag should be removed. But we knew that the situation would turn
volatile if any such thing happened. We have arrested the sarpanch and
the flag is also back in its place."
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