What has Indian Flag got to do with it? Everything!
The following is written by Peace Vigil volunteer Shine Kappor
Lately a discussion around the Indian national flag has taken center stage. Two instances regarding the Indian flag were reported in January 2021. Real respect for any symbol (a flag in this case) is depicted through our actions, not through prime time debates that are quick to condemn and slow to understand the real issues.
On 26 Jan 2021- Indian farmers have been staging protest from September 2020 against the three farm ordinances in the Indian parliament. The tractor rally was a part of months-long protest. The Indian flag shared stage with a Khalsa Flag at the Red Fort in Delhi. Some activists believe that it was staged to cause deviation from the main issue, and in a few days deviation happened. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his regular radio address, Mann ki Baat (heartfelt thoughts) said that protesters who stormed New Delhi’s Red Fort caused an ‘insult’ to the country. He also confirmed that his government will push on with the agriculture laws that the farmers want repealed. This was his first public comments on a long farmers’ agitation. There are hundreds of thousands of farmers collected around the Indian capital to protest the laws. They have been there for almost five months. Nearly 160 protesting farmers have died, mainly due to the bitter cold and there have been massive support for this agitation both within and outside India.
On 6 Jan 2021 – The Indian flag was spotted accompanying a right-wing mob, at the Capitol Hill in Washington DC. There were ten people of Indian origin at the Capitol in this mob. These Indian Americans showed their support for Donald Trump and his far-right violent philosophy by carrying the Indian flag with other right-wing organizations and groups. They are part of the Indian Americans who support Modi, RSS and Trump. They collect funds for events such as Howdy Modi, for the Republican party and for the construction of the Ram temple in India. Those who adore Trump, seem to love Modi and vice versa. Trump and Modi have shared admiration for each other and Trump’s last international visit as the head of the state was to India in Feb 2020.
A flag, like many other symbols, represents certain values. The real respect or abuse comes from the values we stand by and not in the holding of the flag.
Protesting Farmers, Indian Authorities and the BJP/RSS Brigade
When the farmers placed the national flag on their tractor, reading Gandhi’s and Bhagat Singh’s literature, how should one interpret it? Revolution, and non-violence are terms that come to my mind. The majority of farmers have carried the Indian flag with honour. The dead body of a farmer who was killed in Delhi when his tractor overturned was covered in the Indian National flag, symbolizing martyrdom. A big deal has been made by the authorities in India about disrespect of Indian National Flag during the ongoing Farmers’ protest.
Certain incidents were handpicked by the authorities during the tractor rally of 26 January 2021, which are being used by the authorities to discredit the farmers’ struggle, including an allegation that the Farmers insulted the Indian flag. How? By unfurling the Khalsa flag next to the Indian Flag at the Red Fort in New Delhi.
The Death toll of protesting farmers stands at 159 as of 27 January 2021, including 7 suicides.
The ruling political party in India, the BJP has based its narrative on religion. In the case of the farmers’ protest the BJP/RSS brigade has vilified the Sikh religion. It is ironic for BJP/RSS to be pointing at other religious communities, when the BJP, RSS and their supporters have disrespected the national flag and used it for communal gains throughout their history.
The BJP's ideological parent - the RSS - has had a persistently problematic relationship with the Tricolour. The RSS historically wanted a saffron coloured Indian flag and wanted to drop the colour green, which RSS believes was included to please Muslims. On January 26th, 2001, 52 years after India’s first Republic day, RSS hoisted the national flag at its headquarters in Nagpur. The RSS faced no punishment for this, but the activists who unfurled the national flag when the BJP leadership was at the center were jailed.
The values ascribed to the Indian flag were insulted by normalizing the misuse of the flag. Modi using the Indian flag as a yoga scarf is one such example. Is the Indian flag is following the same pattern as the image of Gandhi, which has been reduced to the Swatch Bharat campaign, and Gandhi’s values and ideas have been sidelined?
Indian flag supporting Right Wing terror in the USA
It is a shame that the Indian flag was spotted on the day of terror. The Indian Flag does not stand for bigotry, hate, violence, communalism, and terror. Indian flag does not stand for any of the values demonstrated by the right wing. The right wing is divisive. Evolution, symbolic relevance and values upheld by the Indian flag stand for inclusion!
Indian Flag, meaning and symbolic relevance
While many flags had been used by leaders in the Indian national movement, during the 1920s, it was decided that one national flag was needed to represent the unified Indian struggle against British colonialism. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi,“It will be necessary for us Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Parsis and all others to whom India is their home, to recognize a common flag to live and to die for.”
During the Indian struggle for independence, inclusive nationalist aspirations were to be captured through the Indian Flag. In the 1920s, an educationist, Pingali Venkayya, designed the Indian flag. He worked on 30 flag design options and shared them with Gandhi and other leaders. Out of these designs, a common flag started to emerge. Further changes were made to it. Originally the flag was made up of two colours representing two major communities in India - red (representing Hindus) and green (representing Muslims). Gandhi suggested addition of a white strip to represent the remaining communities of India and adding a spinning wheel to symbolize progress of the Nation. As the British focused on divide and rule - Gandhi envisioned a nation which is inclusive of all people. Therefore the value system of the flag evolved from symbolically representing religious communities to symbolically reflecting national progressive inclusive values and some changes in colour were made in 1930s and it was clearly stated that the flag did not bear any communal significance.
The present Indian flag stands for its values. The saffron colour denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. White in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. ‘Ashoka Chakra’ in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends.
1/3 of Indian flag represents the soil. But the concerns of the farming community are not addressed by the present regime in India. Out of 850,000 protesting farmers who conducted a tractor rally in Delhi on 26 Jan 2021, the BJP government and RSS picked on the actions of a small group of people to discredit the movement. The farmers have been airing their demands for months but the government is not engaging with them in any real sense. From Farmers’ protest to upholding democratic values, striving for equality, fighting social evils – it is important that we stand for humanitarian values.
Humanity is not up for debate!
