Man who hoisted flag at Idgah Maidan sits easy in his cable office

As the nation followed Uma Bharati’s journey to jail, the man who claims to have hoisted the Tricolour at Idgah Maidan in 1994, sat in his cable TV office in Suratkal comfortably.

‘‘It was a proud moment when we broke the security cordon to hoist the flag at Idgah Maidan and like thousands of Indians, I was overwhelmed with emotion,’’ a nostalgic Satyajith recalls. Asserting that there were no guilt pangs, he adds: ‘‘My patriotism swelled many fold.’’

He remembers that on August 11, 1994 — along with a group of friends from Suratkal — he reached Hubli and stayed at Rekha complex, 40 metres from the disputed site. ‘‘On the morning of August 15, I, one Ramesh from Kasargod and Ananth Hegde, present MP, were waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the heavily-guarded maidan,’’ he says.

‘‘As police too had been put up in the same place, the complex had turned into a fortified barrack. We hatched a plan to divert their attention and get into the maidan. At 6.45 am, when we came downstairs, slogans from a crowd could be heard,’’ he adds.

The police rushed to the spot to disperse them and soon the entire building was deserted. ‘‘Three of us started towards the maidan and before the police could realise what was happening, the flag — which was with me — was fluttering in the wind at Idgah Maidan. A shell-shocked police immediately arrested us,” Satyajith recalls.