The_Showstopper
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Supporters misquote the Flag Code as an excuse for RSS not hoisting the National Flag for 52 years
On January 26, 2001, three activists of Rashtrapremi Yuwa Dal– its president Baba Mendhe, Ramesh Kalambe and Dilip Chattani — along with others allegedly entered the RSS premises in Reshimbagh in Nagpur and tried to forcibly hoist the National Flag. Subsequently, offences under relevant sections of Bombay Police Act and IPC were registered by Police against the trio. A court in Nagpur finally discharged them on August 14th, 2013. Prior to this incident, the last time RSS voluntarily hoisted the national flag in its headquarters was on January 26th, 1950. Finally, on January 26th, 2002, RSS hoisted the national flag in its headquarters in Nagpur and at “Smruti Bhawan” in Reshimbagh, which houses the memorials of the first two RSS chiefs, founder Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and MS Golwalkar.
However, these days, when this question is raised as to why the RSS did not hoist the national flag for 52 years, supporters usually incorrectly quote the Flag Code applicable prior to 2002 called “Flag Code-India”. They claim that RSS did not hoist the national flag because private citizens were not allowed to hoist the national flag up until 2002 when a revised Flag Code was announced by the then Union Govt. We’ll discuss how absurd this claim is but first let us look at a few examples of Modi supporters on Twitter making these absurd claims. Each one of the Twitter users in the gallery below is followed by PM Modi on Twitter.
The whole issue of who can fly the national flag and when can one fly the national flag become mainstream when industrialist Naveen Jindal filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court in February 1995 contesting the restraints being placed on him by officials regarding flying the national flag at his Raigarh factory. Up until then, other than on special occasions like January 26th, August 15th and October 2nd, private citizens were not allowed to fly the national flag. On January 15th, 2002, the Union Cabinet accepted the report of the Dr P.D. Shenoy Committee that it had constituted to look into the matter, and announced that citizens will be free to fly the national flag on all days of the year from 26 January 2002.
The fact that all private citizens were allowed to fly the national flag without any restrictions on at least these special occasions is captured in at least two documents – The then prevalent flag code called ‘Flag Code-India’ and in another letter from the Minister of Home Affairs dated 15-06-1971. I managed to find the flag code prevalent prior to 2002 in a 1982 Protocol Manual on Punjab Govt website. In the 6 part manual, the fourth PDF file has the Flag Code on page 12 of the PDF file the relevant section of the Flag code applicable in this case is on Page 14, a clipping of which can be seen below.
The above piece of text clearly says that the display of National flag shall be unrestricted on Republic Day, National Week, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday which essentially means that anyone can fly it. In fact, most of us grew up attending Independence day, Republic day functions in our schools and colleges where the Principal would hoist the flag. The second letter from Ministry of Home Affairs dated 15-06-1971 also states the same thing.
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Both these documents state that were no restrictions on private citizens to hoist the national flag on at least three days a year in the flag code that was functional prior to 2002. Despite having the legal right to hoist the national flag on these days, RSS refused to hoist the national flag for many years.
https://www.altnews.in/nationalists...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
On January 26, 2001, three activists of Rashtrapremi Yuwa Dal– its president Baba Mendhe, Ramesh Kalambe and Dilip Chattani — along with others allegedly entered the RSS premises in Reshimbagh in Nagpur and tried to forcibly hoist the National Flag. Subsequently, offences under relevant sections of Bombay Police Act and IPC were registered by Police against the trio. A court in Nagpur finally discharged them on August 14th, 2013. Prior to this incident, the last time RSS voluntarily hoisted the national flag in its headquarters was on January 26th, 1950. Finally, on January 26th, 2002, RSS hoisted the national flag in its headquarters in Nagpur and at “Smruti Bhawan” in Reshimbagh, which houses the memorials of the first two RSS chiefs, founder Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and MS Golwalkar.
However, these days, when this question is raised as to why the RSS did not hoist the national flag for 52 years, supporters usually incorrectly quote the Flag Code applicable prior to 2002 called “Flag Code-India”. They claim that RSS did not hoist the national flag because private citizens were not allowed to hoist the national flag up until 2002 when a revised Flag Code was announced by the then Union Govt. We’ll discuss how absurd this claim is but first let us look at a few examples of Modi supporters on Twitter making these absurd claims. Each one of the Twitter users in the gallery below is followed by PM Modi on Twitter.
The whole issue of who can fly the national flag and when can one fly the national flag become mainstream when industrialist Naveen Jindal filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court in February 1995 contesting the restraints being placed on him by officials regarding flying the national flag at his Raigarh factory. Up until then, other than on special occasions like January 26th, August 15th and October 2nd, private citizens were not allowed to fly the national flag. On January 15th, 2002, the Union Cabinet accepted the report of the Dr P.D. Shenoy Committee that it had constituted to look into the matter, and announced that citizens will be free to fly the national flag on all days of the year from 26 January 2002.
The fact that all private citizens were allowed to fly the national flag without any restrictions on at least these special occasions is captured in at least two documents – The then prevalent flag code called ‘Flag Code-India’ and in another letter from the Minister of Home Affairs dated 15-06-1971. I managed to find the flag code prevalent prior to 2002 in a 1982 Protocol Manual on Punjab Govt website. In the 6 part manual, the fourth PDF file has the Flag Code on page 12 of the PDF file the relevant section of the Flag code applicable in this case is on Page 14, a clipping of which can be seen below.
The above piece of text clearly says that the display of National flag shall be unrestricted on Republic Day, National Week, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday which essentially means that anyone can fly it. In fact, most of us grew up attending Independence day, Republic day functions in our schools and colleges where the Principal would hoist the flag. The second letter from Ministry of Home Affairs dated 15-06-1971 also states the same thing.
If you like our stories, do follow Alt News on Facebook.
Both these documents state that were no restrictions on private citizens to hoist the national flag on at least three days a year in the flag code that was functional prior to 2002. Despite having the legal right to hoist the national flag on these days, RSS refused to hoist the national flag for many years.
https://www.altnews.in/nationalists...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
