Happy Independence Day to selfie patriots

Happy Independence Day to selfie patriots

Only two more days left for everyone to enter the undeclared contest for top position in the spirit of patriotism.

The 15^th of August is the day when without feeling uncomfortable, awkward or self-conscious, every Indian can beat his/her chest and openly declare love for the country, shout slogans about its greatness, cook recipes in orange and green, change the display profile on social media accounts to the Indian tricolour or be seen waving one and beaming, in selfies.

It brings to my mind some notions which perhaps cause us to misinterpret the terms independence, nationalism and patriotism.

Once a year why can’t we keep our political biases aside and in the true spirit of nationalism, acknowledge some people who have made unpublicised contributions to the true spirit of India?

Most of us have heard of Bhagat Singh, the brave Indian freedom fighter who challenged the decisions of the British rulers and was hanged to death at the young age of 23 and whose name is always prefixed with shaheed (martyr). He was said to be fluent not only in English, Hindi and Punjabi but also in Sanskrit, French, Swedish, Arabic and Polish. Yet we fight over learning or use of languages. Wouldn’t learning as many languages as possible make communication effective?

Till a couple of years ago the only time our patriotic spirit caught fire was when India was playing Pakistan in a cricket match. But last year we got some home work to do, the Har Ghar Tiranga (tricolour in every house) campaign. Remember the frenzy to fix a flag on boundary wall, railing in the balcony, vehicle, pots for plants?

For several years after India gained independence, a citizen was not allowed to hoist the national flag over his house or workplace on any other day barring the national days. Industrialist Naveen Jindal challenged this, and on January 23, 2004 the Supreme Court of India ruling in his favour decided that flying the tricolour came under right to freedom of expression granted by Article 19(1)(a) of our constitution.

                                  A tweet by Anand Mahindra on Aug 15, 2022

The Ministry of Home Affairs mentions clear-cut instructions about the

https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/flagcodeofindia_070214.pdf

flag sizes to be used for aircraft, cars and table tops. Any error or discrepancy is a punishable offence.

A Press Information Bureau press release on Aug 13, 2018 https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=181865 

had issued an advisory to all states that the Flag Code of India be followed strictly and

Further, it has been brought to notice of the MHA that on the occasions of important national, cultural and sports events, the National Flags made of plastic are also being used in place of National Flags made of paper. Since, plastic flags are not easily biodegradable like paper flags, these do not get decomposed for a long time and ensuring appropriate disposal of National Flags made of plastic commensurate with dignity of the flag, is a practical problem. The Advisory asks that on the occasions of important national, cultural and sports events, Flags made of paper only are used by public in terms of the provisions of the 'Flag Code of India, 2002' and such paper Flags are not discarded or thrown on the ground after the event. Such Flags are to be disposed of, in private, consistent with the dignity of the Flag.

Like the lights, decorations and sweets for Diwali, Christmas and Eid, the display of national flag has also become an annual national ritual. While we mostly know what to do with the outward expressions of our festive spirit after private, social and religious occasions, the question of how to fold the national flag, where to give it or whether to keep it for any future display of nationalistic spirit, is a major cause for concern to people like me.

Only message I found which
offered a solution

 Last 15^th August we saw thousands and   thousands of plastic and polyester clones   of our national flag appear magically and   once the date changed to16th, we were   unsure about what to do with them. The   tricolour rectangles continued to flutter in   the breeze, get drenched in the monsoon   rain or lose their bright hues in the blazing   sun. What was the date to take them   down?

I don’t expect the illiterate/semi-literate flag-seller at the road crossing whose livelihood depends on the traffic light turning red, to know this, but do those who add to the volume of general noise with their vociferous claims to deshbhakti (patriotism), know something as simple as the difference between the reasons for celebrating 15^th August and the 26^th of January?

Swayed by our political bias we do not hesitate in criticizing political leaders not among our list of favourites or whom we might not know much about. But see this, till 1973, it was the Governors who unfurled the national flag on Independence Day. Tamil Nadu Chief minister M Karunanidhi of the DMK complained to the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi about this.

The Hindu edition of Aug 15, 2022 mentions

In his voluminous autobiographical work, Nenjukku Needhi, Karunanidhi wrote briefly: “Every year, on August 15, it was a practice that the Governor will hoist the national flag at the State Secretariat. It was due to my repeated efforts in writing letters to Delhi (Union government) and repeatedly raising the issue in person as to why democratically elected Chief Ministers should not be given this right, it was decided that Governors will unfurl the national flag on Republic Day alone and Chief Ministers will hoist the national flag on Independence Day”.

The Hindu of July 31, 1974 had a report, ‘CMs to unfurl tricolour’: “The Government of India has accepted the suggestion of the Tamil Nadu Government [headed by Karunanidhi] that Chief Ministers should be permitted to unfurl the national flag on August 15 in the State capitals”.

On August 15, 1947, at the time of independence, India had neither an official national anthem nor national song. It was only on January 24, 1950 that ‘Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata’, Rabindranath Tagore’s song composed in 1911, with a fresh name Jan Gan Man, and Vande Matram, composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee were adopted as the national anthem and national song respectively by the Constituent Assembly of India.

Interestingly, Vande Matram was from Bankim Chandra’s novel Anandmath, written and published in 1882. Rabindranath Tagore first sang it in 1896 and on November 20, 1909, Shri Aurobindo translated it in prose for Karmayogin, the weekly journal in English.

That makes me think - Pakistan and India both got independence from a common ruler, but instead of being a powerful alliance, see sadly, how our relations are 75 years later.

 Flags of these countries have similar colours

Although we are one of the 65 countries which got independence from the British Empire or the United Kingdom, Bahrain is the only one which got independence from the British on the 15^th of August, albeit in 1971.

Phew, isn’t that a lot of information?

It seems we, the citizens, have not been given an agenda to follow this year, so enjoy the loud playing of patriotic songs from every road crossing that day, barrage of Happy Independence Day messages on social media, daylong telecast of patriotic movies on all channels, photos of Indians living abroad and very clear about no ghar vapasi (return home) taking out a parade in the streets and parks of cities they live in, and of course, laddoo distribution in every school, office, residential complex on that day.

Election pitch has already started, so keep ear plugs handy for the fiery speeches of political leaders, who like most of us, inherited this legacy and treasure of freedom without doing anything.

A line about the top photo - I found this on internet and to me as an Indian woman, that is what freedom means. 

March past by security guards in a residential complex
- impeccable mismatch 

                                                                                                 - Anupama S Mani