SRINAGAR: A visibly tattered Indian national flag fluttered atop the civil secretariat in Jammu on Thursday, the first day of the budget session of the Legislative Assembly.
This picture – of the flag in poor condition – was published by the Tribune newspaper.
India has a Flag Code which lays down guidelines for proper display of the national flag. The tattered flag is a definite violation of the rules which prohibit its display if in a bad condition.
One government employee in Jammu told the newspaper that “the situation at the secretariat was painful to see”.
“It is a symbol of our national pride. Thousands of armed forces personnel have laid down their lives to keep the Tricolour flying in its full glory,” the employee said.
This feeling is understood as respect for the national flag is linked more with emotions than the rules regarding it.
But for many people in the state, where a 23-year-old armed resistance is yet to peter out, a ragged Indian flag atop the building – from where the government functions – may evoke a different feeling.
It surely did in 1992 when a pole, to which the Tricolour was tied to, broke just as BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi tried to raise the flag at the historic Lalchowk in Srinagar.
Joshi was embarassed. But then the superstitious Kashmiri spake.
