The Hindu : National : Did Bharti violate the Flag Code?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 26, 2004

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National

Did Bharti violate the Flag Code?

By Siddharth Varadarajan

NEW DELHI, AUG. 25 . The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, who has been remanded to judicial custody in Hubli, Karnataka, on charges of rioting and attempted murder, might just have added to her legal woes by using the national flag as a stage prop for her carefully choreographed "surrender."

In order to buttress Ms. Bharti's claim that the crime for which she stands charged amounts to nothing more than trying to unfurl the national flag, the `tiranga' (Tricolour) has been a fixture at BJP rallies these past few days. But though the amended Flag Code of India allows individuals to display the flag, it prescribes a strict set of restrictions for how the flag is to be flown or displayed, many of which appear to have been violated by the BJP leader.

Disrespect shown

Indeed, throughout the day, television channels showed footage of BJP activists and leaders, including Ms. Bharti, displaying the Tricolour in a manner which was not only in violation of the Flag Code but was also, in some cases, tantamount to showing disrespect to the flag. On one occasion, Ms. Bharti threw the national flag on the bonnet of a car as she tried to clamber up on to its roof to address her supporters. Under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2003, passed by the erstwhile Vajpayee Government, "whoever in any public place... shows disrespect to or brings into contempt... the Indian National Flag... shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years."

3 norms violated

A review of the TV footage of Ms. Bharti's impromptu rallies reveals that at least three norms prescribed by the Flag Code were repeatedly violated. Among these:

(i) "When the Flag is displayed on a speaker's platform, it should be flown on the speaker's right as he faces the audience or flat against the wall, above and behind the speaker." Instead, the flag was being waved around wildly behind her.

(ii) "No other flag or bunting should be placed higher than or above or side by side with the National Flag." Instead, the `tiranga' was often eclipsed by the BJP's own party flag.

The draping of the National Flag over a vehicle.

Though the code says that "a member of public, a private organisation or an educational institution may hoist/display the National Flag on all days and occasions, ceremonial or otherwise, consistent with the dignity and honour of the National Flag," flag-waving for political purposes is not explicitly prohibited, perhaps because our lawmakers never imagined such an eventuality. However, the use of the flag for advertising is expressly forbidden, and there will be many across the country who will likely see in Ms. Bharti's latest moves little more than an attempt to use the Tricolour to sell her party's political wares.

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