Kerala High Court has banned the use of political symbols and flags within a radius of 100 metres from the temple
A post related to a pookkalam, (a flower arrangement traditionally made for Onam) laid out at a temple in Kerala’s Kollam district is going viral on social media. It is being claimed that police have registered a case for placing floral carpet containing the name of ‘Operation Sindoor’ at Sree Parthasarathy Temple at Muthupilakkadu in Kollam district. The BJP has criticised the police’s decision to book the RSS workers, calling it an action against an “Operation Sindoor pookkalam”. The pookkalam also had Operation Sindoor written on it with flowers.
The post claims that the police have taken action against those who had arranged the flower arrangement for writing like this. Many BJP leaders like BJP national spokesperson Amit Malviya have shared the same claim on their social media handles.
The caption states, “In Kerala’s Kollam district, a temple’s Onam Pookalam (floral design) was forced to be removed by the police, just because it had the words ‘Operation Sindoor’. And this isn’t Pakistan, its happening in Kerala under Left rule! Imagine a situation where even flowers carrying patriotic messages are seen as a threat. All this, to appease a particular section. And the same Left claims itself to be champions of free speech”.
Let’s check the truth
The same post is going viral on Facebook also.
Fact Check-
We started our investigation by contacting the Sasthamkotta police station for more information. Investigating officer CK Raghunandan clarified to us that The FIR was registered by police after the RSS flag was found in the floral design, despite prior instructions. According to police, both CPI (M) and BJP workers had been asked not to display political flags or symbols in Pookkalam due to earlier tensions in the area. Police said both sides agreed to the condition.
Police said the Kerala High Court has banned the use of political symbols and flags within a radius of 100 metres from the temple, and in 2023, the court rejected a petition seeking permission to raise saffron flags near the temple.
“The claim that the police asked to erase the writing ‘Operation Sindoor’ is completely false. We reached the spot after receiving a complaint that there was a dispute over the placement of flowers in the temple. There, the flag used by the RSS was drawn along with the flowers. Similarly, a flux of Chhatrapati Shivaji was also installed within 50 meters. Following some problems that had taken place in the temple in previous years, there is a High Court order that the symbols of religious and political organizations should not be placed within a 100-meter radius of the temple. In violation of that, religious symbols were placed there. That is why the police intervened. The police did not ask to erase the writing ‘Operation Sindoor’. This is also clearly written in the FIR.”
Next, we had a conversation with Ashokan, the secretary of the temple committee, he said that that the claim is not true. “At a meeting on August 31, the committee decided to place floral carpet for Thiruvonam. However, some young people began placing flowers on their own initiative under the direction of a committee member. Neither the flowers nor the words “Operation Sindoor” are the issue here.
The flag of the religious organization RSS was painted and a flex of Chhatrapati Shivaji was installed in violation of the court order. When we came to know about this, we filed a complaint with the police. When the police reached the spot, they distorted the issue in self-defense and said that the police intervened because they wrote Operation Sindoor. The police only asked that the symbols of the religious organization be removed from the temple premises and the flower. Otherwise, the police told those who caused the problem that they would file an FIR and file a case. This is the real incident.”
You can see a copy of the court order given to us by the temple committee below:
Also, when we asked the Asianet reporter for details, the answer we got was similar: “ In previous years, the temple committee had more BJP supporters. But now the majority of the committee is Congress-Communist supporters. Under the leadership of a former soldier, a few young people from outside the committee had ignored the committee’s decision regarding the Onam Pookalam and had painted the RSS flag along with the pookkalam and installed a flux of Chhatrapati Shivaji. The police arrived at the spot after the committee members filed a complaint against this at the police station. The police had asked them to erase the words “Operation Sindoor” and all this is just false propaganda.”
As the video gained traction on social media the Police Media Center has published a note stating that, It is being spread through various social media handles that police have registered a case for placing Onam flowers at Sasthamkotta Muthu Pilakkad Parthasarathi Temple. Strict action against those who spread such fake news.
The Public Relations Department’s Fact Check Section also published an article clarifying the truth behind the controversy surrounding the flower carpet.
Conclusion-
Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. Following the temple committee’s complaint, the police demanded that the RSS flag placed with flowers and Chhatrapati Shivaji’s flex, which had been put in violation of a court order, be removed.
Title:Kerala police have not registered a case for making Onam Pookkalam with the words ‘Operation Sindoor’ but for saffron flag in floral design
Fact Check By: Usha ManojResult: False
