To live and to die for
By Arpita Kothari

IN the words of Mahatma Gandhi "A flag is a necessity for all nations. For a flag represents an ideal... It will be necessary for us Indians — Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Parsis and all others to whom India is their home — to recognise a common flag to live and to die for."

The aforesaid raises another significant question as to the origin and adoption of the National Flag. Numerous personal, racial and political ideologies have influenced the concept and design of the flag as we see it today. The first National Flag had three horizontal stripes. The middle stripe of yellow colour had Vande Mataram in blue written across it in the Devanagari script.

Eight lotus flowers were embossed on the top stripe which was of green colour. The bottom red stripe had a white sun on the left and a white crescent and a star on the right. Some scholars, however, assert that there was no star on the flag that was unfurled on August 7, 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square in Calcutta.

In the story of the evolution of the flag, there’s reference to yet another flag which was hoisted at the International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart, Germany, in 1907 by Madame Cama and her band of revolutionaries.

This was similar to the first flag except that the design of the lotus flowers was different. The sun on the bottom red stripe was shifted to the right of the flag and the crescent without the star on the left. In 1917 the third flag, with five red and four horizontal stripes arranged alternatively with seven stars in the saptrishi formation, was hoisted by Dr Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak during the Home Rule Movement.

On the top left hand corner of the flag was the Union Jack and at the top right hand corner, a white crescent and star. Probably the Union Jack symbolised the goal of Dominion status, and hence was not accepted by the people. The flag underwent another metamorphosis when it was designed by a youth from Andhra Pradesh. It had two colours — green and red — and a large charkha (spinning wheel) symbolising progress superimposed in blue in the centre. Gandhiji suggested the addition of the white stripe. This flag was unfurled at the All-India Congress session in 1931.

After a lot of controversy over the communal significance of the colours in the flag, a resolution was passed in 1931 adopting a tricolour flag as our National Flag. The resolution clearly stated that the colours were to be interpreted thus:

Saffron for courage and sacrifice, white for truth and peace and green for faith and chivalry. It also carried a charkha in navy blue on the white band. "On July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted this as India’s National Flag. The colours remained the same, the Dharma Chakra of Emperor Ashoka replaced the charkha as the emblem on the flag". The chakra or the wheel of time is symbolic of progress culminating in final spiritual liberation or moksha by following righteous method.

If we come back to the present flag — the correct practice and customs regarding the display of the National Flag as embodied in the Flag Code —India raises a crucial and intriguing question. Should the display of the National Flag be restricted by the Government of India? How can the idea "to live and to die for" take roots in Indian hearts when the government restricts the use of the National Flag for the citizens in their daily life. For the chakra dhvaja, the prime symbol of nationalism has been made "absent" by the precincts of the government policies, from the core of Indian souls.

Besides the flag, Vande Mataran, the premier national song of India, too has a great historical tradition. This is symbolic of "the passion and poignancy" of our struggle for freedom (from statement made by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on August 25, 1948). The song, Vande Mataram, is older than our National Anthem and was written by the doyen of Bengali literature Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel Anandamath published in 1882.

The first words of the song Vande Mataram which had become the symbol and a form of propaganda of the nationalist movement, in fact, inspired the people of India to lay down their lives for their motherland. So, what has changed now? Why has the importance of Vande Mataram become perfunctory?

What are the factors which distinguish the National Anthem from any patriotic verse? According to experts, among other things it can be sung in chorus to evoke a feeling of patriotism in a large group of people. Mahatma Gandhi described Jana Gana Mana by Rabindranath Tagore, not only as a song but as a devotional hymn. The song was first sung at a political occasion on December 27, 1911, on the second day of the Congress session. Bharat Vidhata was the title under which the song was first published in 1912 in Tattvabodhini Patrika. The President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr Rajendra Prasad, adopted Jana Gana Mana as the National Anthem of the Republic of India. Dr Rajendra Prasad issued a statement stating that "The composition consisting of the words and music known as Jana Gana Mana shall be used for official purposes as the National Anthem... and the song Vande Mataram ... shall be honoured equally with the Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it".

The reawakening of the nation has been shunned for too long. In this 51st year of India’s independence, let us the people of India and the elected representatives of the people shed our indifference and work for achieving higher goals.