Despite Naxal ban, tricolour hoisted

Bhopal: Braving the Maoist threat to hoist black flags in government-run educational institutions in remote areas of Bastar in Chhattisgarh on Independence Day, tribal children in a village in insurgency-hit Dantewada district in the region unfurled the tricolour on Tuesday. 

The children of Rewari village in Dantewada district of the state marched to their schools early Tuesday morning and celebrated Independence Day by hoisting the national flag and singing the national anthem, according to official reports. The school teachers presided over the event. 

“We have received reports that children of Rewari village for the first time hoisted tricolour in their schools, braving Naxal threats. The development is a big setback for the Maoists,” a senior police officer of  the Dantewada district told this newspaper on telephone unwilling to be quoted.

In fact, Maoist leaflets asking local tribals to stay away from Independence Day celebrations were recovered in villages of Rewari, Burgum, Potali and Nilwaya in the district on August 14. 

According to reports reaching here from interior areas in south Bastar districts of Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur, the Maoists had herded the local tribals to nearby schools and hoisted black flags on Monday.

However, barring stray incidents of hoisting black flags in several remote areas of Bastar by the Maoists, Independence Day celebrations in the insurgency-hit zone passed of peacefully, the police said.