‘Is Rahul Gandhi ashamed of ally IUML?’: Congress caught in a case of the missing flags in Kerala

THE murmurs over the missing flags of the Congress and especially its ally IUML at Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow in Wayanad on Wednesday continue to grow – the absence underlining the party’s uneasy balancing act as it tries to retain its Muslim vote without alienating other communities.

Both the BJP and CPI(M) attacked the party for being cagey about the flags at an event showcasing, of all people, Rahul, whose Bharat Jodo Yatras were about embracing all communities.

The Congress caution stemmed from its 2019 experience when IUML flags at a similar roadshow held by Rahul, ahead of filing his nomination from Wayanad, had been dubbed by the BJP as “Pakistani flags”. The IUML flags are green in colour with a crescent. BJP president Amit Shah had said: “When a procession is taken out, you cannot make out whether it is in India or Pakistan.”

This time, the IUML and Congress workers at the Rahul roadshow only carried his photos and Tricolour balloons.

On Thursday, the CPI(M) and BJP both lectured the Congress on the “dignity” of a party’s flag and the “importance” of keeping it flying high.

The CPI(M) said the absence of the flags proved its point that the Congress – its main rival in the state – was too cowardly to take on the Sangh Parivar. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan added his weight to the attack, while pointing out that the Congress flag closely remembered the Tricolour.

“The Congress has stooped to such a level that it is afraid of the BJP. It is a demand of the Sangh Parivar that the Tricolour be abandoned (Opposition parties accuse the BJP of this as the RSS for a long time did not hoist the Tricolour at its headquarters). The Congress is yielding to that demand of the Sangh Parivar,” Vijayan said, adding that Kerala should