'Reincarnated spirit of patriot': Internet reacts to bird 'unfurling' stuck national flag in Kerala

The video later turned out to be just a camera angle, with many fact-checking that the bird had had nothing to do with the unfurling.

During the Independence Day celebration in Kerala, a bird left everyone pleasantly surprised after it seemingly unfurled the national flag.

In a video shared by one Shilpa on platform X, a group of people can be seen hoisting the flag. However, as the flag reaches the top of the pole, it does not unfurl on its own. Meanwhile, a bird is seen flying towards the tricolour, soon after which it unfurls. The awestruck children at the event start clapping as the bird flies away.

The video shared at midnight on August 17 already has one million views as it is going viral on social media.

While several users believe that the bird was a reincarnation of a patriot, some people have called this an optical illusion.

"The bird simply perched on the branch and then flew away. It didn't unfurl the flag; the camera angle created that illusion. In India, it's easy to exploit patriotism to sell anything and deceive people. No wonder why BJP gets votes," a user commented.

Another video of the incident on social media shows that the bird didn't have anything to do with the tricolour unfurling.

Meanwhile, in another incident in Kerala, a church priest was electrocuted in Mulleria on Thursday while lowering the national flag after the Independence Day celebrations, police said on Friday.

The priest of Mulleria Infant Jesus Church, Fr. Mathew Kudilil (29), was electrocuted when the flag post leaned to one side and made contact with a nearby electricity line.

Church sources said while lowering the flag in the evening, it got entangled in the pole.

As the priest was unable to free the flag, he tried to lift the pole, which leaned on one side due to its weight and came into contact with a high tension power line nearby, electrocuting him, police said.

(With PTI inputs)