The National Flag

WHATEVER meaning one may attach to the expression “National Flag,” there is one thing for which it does and must stand. It is the emblem of distinct nationhood, and implies that the various sections that compose it belong to one another in a sense in which none of them belong to any other people on the face of the earth. It is in this sense that the expression has been in vogue in our midst for nearly two decades now. The first time that the idea of a National Flag was given tangible expression was, we believe, in connection with the anti-partition movement when Sir Ashutosh Chaudhury unfurled the National Flag in Calcutta. Since then, the innocent but highly inspiring ceremony has been repeated on several occasions. In some of these cases, notably two, the local officials did adopt an attitude of hostility towards the ceremony. The hostility was as uncalled for as it was supremely unreasonable, and it is gratifying to observe that except in one case, no long or bitter struggle had to be waged in order to overcome it. The Government did ultimately realise, as it ought to have done from the first, that the National Flag connoted no hostility to England or the Empire, but only indicated India’s desire and determination to realise her distinctive nationhood. In his speech while hoisting the National Flag at Cawnpore (Kanpur) in connection with the forthcoming session of the Indian National Congress, Pandit Motilal Nehru correctly stated the meaning and implication of the ceremony. “This flag” he said “represents Swaraj, the Swaraj of all Indians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jews, Parsis and all other communities and religions to be found in India.”