Three members of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) were arrested today, Tuesday, May 28, in Bengaluru, for allegedly blackening the signboard of a flyover named after Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar, said a report by PTI.
The incident took place on the birth anniversary of Savarkar.
According to the police, a group of activists from NSUI, the students' wing of the Indian National Congress (INC) party, staged a protest demanding that the flyover be renamed.
They allegedly blackened Sarvarkar's name on the board and put up a banner bearing the name Bhagat Singh Flyover and also raised the slogans, "Inquilab Zindabad", holding up Bhagat Singh's pictures, PTI added.
"They painted the board black. We have registered a case under the Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Public Property Act and have arrested three people. They were wearing scarfs of NSUI," a senior police officer said.
The board was restored later, officials informed.
The flyover was named after Savarkar when the BJP was in power, amid opposition from certain sections including the Congress.
R Ashoka, Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly slammed the ruling Congress following the incident.
Posting on social media platform X, he alleged, "While Veer Savarkar's photo adorned @RahulGandhi 's Bharat Jodo yatra in Karnataka, @INCKarnataka and its affiliates continue to denigrate Veer Savarkar by defacing the signboard of Veer Savarkar flyover in Bengaluru.”
