Vincent Xavier: The man who waved Tricolour at Capitol Hill siege
Among the mob that stormed the Capitol Hill in United States capital Washington, DC, on Wednesday to prevent to disrupt the lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, was an Indian. The person waving the flag has been identified as Vincent Xavier Palathingal.
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FollowVideos on social media showed Vincent Xavier Palathingal waving the Indian tricolour outside the Capitol Hill.
Vincent, a Republican hailing from Fairfax, Virginia, is vice president of FOMAA -- the largest Malayali organisation in the United States. Besides, he is also the vice-chair of the Fairfax Republican community outreach.
Vincent said he participated in the demonstration at Capitol Hill because he believes that "massive voter fraud has happened" and that "peaceful protestors were exercising their rights".
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The Facebook post that vanished
Terming Trump rallies as fun, Vinson posted on Facebook, "And today was not an exception. About 50 or so lawless people who breached the US Capitol perimeter by climbing the walls, breaking the windows and attacking police inside this sacred temple to American Democracy is not a reason to throw the million-plus peaceful protestors under the bus."
"I consider President Donald J Trump as a tool afforded to American patriots by him, to start the cleaning up of the fraud-prone system in many states. If he had conceded, that is the end of the discussion. Then the Democrat fraudsters will ensure that the US will slowly move to a one-party system by stealing every election in the future. He didn't do that in spite of tremendous pressure. That's why I am thankful to President Donald J Trump," Vinson's post read.
The post has now been deleted.
Shashi Tharoor dragged into controversy
Among those outraged by the sight of the tricolour amidst the sea of Republican flags and Donald Trump posters, was Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.
Responding to a Twitter post by Lok Sabha MP Varun Gandhi with regard to the presence of the Indian flag at the protests, Tharoor said, "Unfortunately, there are some Indians with the same mentality as that Trumpist mob, who enjoy using the flag as a weapon rather than a badge of pride and denounce all who disagree with them as anti-nationals and traitors. That flag there is a warning to all of us."
Shortly after netizens dug up an April 2015 photo of Tharoor having lunch with Vincent at the Otello restaurant in Washington, DC.
Clarifying Varun Gandhi's poser to him in this regard, Tharoor said: "Disapproved of it (Vincent's actions) totally. Do you consider yourself responsible for the misguided actions of every well-wisher? I denounce any attempt to bring my country's beloved flag into a shameful American mob."
To another query from BJP leader Kapil Mishra, Tharoor said, "He (Vincent) seems to be on the extreme right, hardly communist. Read his Twitter bio. In any case, I have no connection to his ideology. I only met him as he represented an NRI group, the Indo-American Center in Washington."
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