Trouble started when local legislator Ganesh Joshi and Mussoorie municipal chairman Manmohan Singh Malla climbed the podium on the ground and started arguing with each other, insisting on unfurling the tricolour.
Both of them tried to snatch the rope and pull it to unfurl the flag, roughing up each other in the process, much to the embarrassment of the people around.
When the dispute refused to die down, a child from the crowd was brought to the podium by the organisers to hoist the national flag.
