Mohan Bhagwat prevented from hoisting tricolour in Kerala school on 71st Independence Day

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday was restrained from hoisting the national flag during India's 71st Independence Day at a school in Kerala's Palakkad district.

However, later on, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat unfurled the national flag in Palakkad school.

Bhagwat was restrained from hoisting the national flag when Palakkad District Collector issued a memo to the Karnakkiyamman School, which said, "It is inappropriate for a political leader to hoist national flag in an aided school."

The memo added that only "a teacher or elected representative of the people" can hoist the flag.

The BJP has challenged the Collector's direction, and has insisted that Bhagwat will hoist the tricolour.

The BJP and the RSS have been trying to make inroads into Kerala. The continuing violence between the RSS and the Left cadres in the state has been the outcome of the right-wing group's assertion in the southern state. It is interesting that the RSS itself hoisted the national flag at its Nagpur headquarters for the first time in 2002.