Flags of dissent: Even RSS has one!
NEW DELHI: What is all this fuss about? The (Hindu nationalist group) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or National Volunteer Corps is perfectly entitled not to hoist the national flag if it so pleases. There is no constitutional duty imposed upon any citizen of this country to do so and, indeed, such an imposition would impinge upon the basic notion of civil liberty which implies that a man must be free to follow the dictates of his conscience or his personal convictions.
In a free society, such as ours, it means that he is free not to love his country or its flag, although overt expressions of disrespect are rightly forbidden under a law passed by Parliament in 1971. The law, incidentally, is careful to include two explanatory clauses to the effect that legitimate criticism of the Constitution or the Flag is not covered.
The phrase "brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written, or by acts)" is open to a wider and, perhaps, more pernicious, interpretation, especially by ultra-nationalist organizations like the RSS who seek to impose uniformity of behavior on the population.
But the non-hoisting of the national flag is neither disrespectful nor does it bring this symbol into contempt. Freedom should always be several steps ahead of notions of contempt. It is certainly a political statement, but we can afford the voltairian luxury of defending the rights of people with whom we disagree on almost all other points.
Moreover, Prakash Ambedkar's complaint is entirely misconceived. If the RSS does not hoist the tricolor on independence day, it is not out of a lack of patriotic feeling.
On the contrary, it may be an ultra-nationalist gesture that is meant to signal its disagreement with a mainstream nationalism that, in its view, falls short of the real thing in which the color saffron predominates to the detriment of the other two.
It is a perfectly legitimate political statement and Ambedkar and his friends are not entitled to force the RSS on a non- existent issue.
All this hypersensitivity about our national emblems and symbols only goes to feed hooligan instincts. We remember the howls that were raised when Sushmita Sen draped herself in the tricolor and paraded down Rajpath.
The problem is germane to the kind of values that we associate with patriotism. Often is a reflection of our fun-hating culture which makes us mistake playfulness for insult.
Patriotism doesn't necessarily have to be mournful, it can also be a celebration. It is a good thing, therefore, that Government are contemplating "liberalizing" the use of the national flag by ordinary citizens. It may breed a more relaxed and a more tolerant attitude.
-- The Statesman/Asia News Network