Indian Parliament, National Flag, Mr. Ahluwalia and Citizen Journalists

As soon as you stop wondering about the title of this article, please get ready for some serious stuff. In the year 2005, two special bills were passed by the parliament of India, their names explains their application:

 

�     The prevention of insults to national honour (Amendment) Bill, 2005

�     The state emblem of India (prohibition of improper use) Bill, 2005.

 

A part of the synopsis to the debate which preceded passing of these two bills is available on the website of the Rajya Sabha [Link]. The debates in the parliament are often of great source of learning not only for the budding politicians, and citizen journalists in the guise of the aam adami. Here is a small account of the same, with my comments in green font, often containing information that we forget to remember.  

 

[1] SHRI VIJAY J. DARDA:

 

It is strange that national symbol was removed from the helmets of Indian Cricketers.  It is not proper.  Some provision should be made in this regard..

 

[2] SHRI S.S.CHANDRAN:

 

(Spoke in Tamil)

 

[3] SHRIMATI N.P.DURGA:

 

There, is a young patriot, Shri Pingali Venkaiah, who prepared our National Flag. The only difference between the Flag prepared by Shri Pingali Venkaiah and the present Flag is that now we have got the Dharma Chakra in place of Charkha.  Gandhiji had also appreciated Shri Pingali Venkaiah, in The Young India. But what honour have we given to  this great patriot?  So, I request, the Government to release, at least, a postal stamp and erect a statue of Shri Pingali Venkaiah in the premises of this great democratic institution..

 

[4] PROF. RAM DEO BHANDARY:

 

General people normally do not disrespect the National Flag, but certain so called high class people often disrespect the National Flag

 

[5] MAULANA OBAIDULLAH KHAN AZMI:

 

Our National Flag is a proud for every Indian. A large number of people and defence personnel sacrificed their lives for the sake of National Flag. The National Emblem-Ashok Chakra is a symbol of social justice in India

 

[6] SHRI S.S. AHLUWALIA:

 

The emblem formed by the State of Mizoram bears the mark of cross which indicates to a particular religion.  This is a clear violation of the Preamble of the Constitution of India alongwith Article 15 and 51 (A), wherein it is clearly mentioned that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of religion, caste, race, sex, place of birth or any of them. I do not know if any one amongst you would come forward to protest this development. But, I shall be the first person to protest it.

 

14 States have formed their emblems with or without seeking permission from the Central Government. In respect of four States, even the records are not available.  Only three States have sought the permission of the Centre.  The Centre does not know what type of these emblems are and whether they conform to the required norms laid down in this regard.

 

I was surprised to view a telecast on T.V. in which hon’ble Minister of Commerce, Mr. Kamal Nath was briefing to the media persons before leaving for W.T.O. Summit. Our national flag was overturned there. No regretment has been expressed by the Minister so far in this regard.

 

These are my observations on the comments made by the honorable MPs here:

 

[1]

 

The (UPA) Government, in a letter, had asked the BCCI to restrain cricketers from using the National Flag on their cricketing gear since it amounted to showing disrespect. Before that Naveen Jindal, an industrialist and an MP, had initiated the debate in 1994 over the right of the citizens to fly the national flag in their homes, any day of the year. In the year 2002, Mr. Jindal had won a long-drawn legal battle to be able to fly the National Flag at his factory in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. The Union Government amended the flag code to liberalize the use of the National Flag. Yet, the code did not allow the flag to be used as part of a uniform or dress.

 

The Hindu reports that the most notable cricketer sporting the National Tri-color on the helmet is Sachin Tendulkar, while Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag are among those who have not displayed the National Flag on their gear. Interestingly, Tendulkar has always used the National Flag on the top-inside part of his cricket bag. Sachin says what he shows on his helmet (national flag) is what he keep inside his heart (patriotism). It should be noted that most of the other nations don’t restrict its citizens from displaying the national flag on uniforms or dresses.

 

[2]

 

The member spoke in Tamil, and therefore his speech was not recorded for reference in this document. In my opinion, members should stick to either of the two national languages Hindi or English, for reaching to the wider audiences.

 

[3]

 

Thanks madam, you have made an important point here. But to believe that after releasing a stamp or erecting a statue, the soul of Venkaiyah will feel good, is hoping for too much. This is a time tested political weapon in the form of public statues: install a statue of a leader, you become a hero for the community to which the leader belonged, then deface it, start a riot in protest, then come down to calm the riots, get 5 lakhs as compensation for the dead, you are again proven yourself a great leader for the communities involved, then do purification of the statue, and then keep repeating the procedure every 5 years.

 

[4]

 

So called high class people? Does disrespect comes with fat incomes?

 

[5]

 

We can notice his explanation of Ashok Chakra as a symbol of social justice! The Dharma Chakra is wheel of life conveys the importance of karma; we have to keep progressing, keep growing, as a nation. And its 24 spokes portray the prevalence of righteousness all 24 hours a day.

 

[6]

 

One can't remain without some respect towards the righteousness shown by Mr. Ahluwalia here. He has spoken his mind and heart in a manner which reflects strength of character. Kudos to him. He highlights the misdeeds of ruling politicians in Mizoram, points out to the disregards from states with respect to the present bill, and even targets a minister for negligence. We need more parliamentarians like him.

 

(I have edited this piece since I posted for the first time. This is because some of my statements were too pinching and I thought some of them were disrespectful towards the parliament also.) I am not sure whether this article of mine conforms to the conventional forms of writing an article. This is neither an interview, nor a plain news article. You must have noted that with the advent of the internet, and the popularity of the blogs, people have re-discovered the delights of writing. And the conventional forms of writing, the standards, the tricks of the trade, are all gone. I was reading my text book for a course of journalism last night. It teaches how we should start an article and how should we develop the story. But the conventions get outdated these days by the time they reach the printer! Welcome the millennium Citizen Journalists.