'India was shocked to see insult of Tricolour': PM Modi on farmers Republic Day violence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed this year's first Mann Ki Baat. Addressing the 73rd episode of the monthly radio programme, PM Modi said that the nation was shocked to witness the insult of the Tricolour on Republic Day. Prime Minister's comments came in the aftermath of the violence on January 26 when farmers protesting against agriculture laws entered the Red Fort and unfurled their flags from its ramparts. The iconic Mughal-era fort witnessed violence on Republic Day, when groups of farmers protesting against the farm laws over-ran the fort and hoisted a Sikh religious flag on an empty mast just below the national flag on the ramparts. The police had used batons to push them out.

The fort, parts of which had suffered damages, has been shut till January 31 by the Archaeological Survey of India. Responding to opposition demands for a special probe into the incidents at the Red Fort, the Prime Minister had earlier said that the "law will take its own course". On Thursday, the police had issued notices to farmer leaders over the Republic Day violence, giving them three days to respond. The protest on Republic Day was meant to mark the completion of two months of farmers' protest at the borders of Delhi over the Centre's three farm laws passed in September. But matters escalated after a group of farmers violated the designated time and route of the protest. The Prime Minister has said the government's proposal of keeping the laws on hold for 18 months still stands. The farmers, however, have rejected the offer and are holding out for a repeal of all three laws.