Are you aware of the tricolour code?

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Jawans pay their respect to the national flag

Days after starlet Gehna Vashisht was arrested for tying the national flag around her waist, an FIR was filed earlier this month against actor Shah Rukh Khan in Pune for waving the flag upside-down in Mumbai last year.

Caught up in the revelry following India’s cricket World Cup victory, SRK gleefully cheered on with the tricolour, unaware that he was holding it saffron-down. Such instances involving celebrities bring to the fore how little Indians know about matters surrounding the national flag.
Ashok Pandit, social commentator and film director says that the basic problem lies in lack of awareness. “This entire issue regarding SRK is absolutely nonsense. SRK has never insulted the flag and these are all blackmailing tactics used to target him. People aren’t really aware about the flag protocol. We should be sensitive regarding the Indian flag. The norms that exist should be followed since after all the flag is the identity of a country,” says Ashok adding that one of the solutions is to inculcate a sense of respect towards the flag at an early stage. “It must be treated with a lot of respect and dignity. In fact, schools should include the Flag Code of India in their curriculum. I remember seeing Indian flags being burnt in my hometown in Kashmir. It really hurts me to see the Indian flag being disrespected as an Indian.”
Shanta Gokhale, noted writer, says that reacting to such public misdemeanours doesn’t amount to hyping the matter. She adds that the flag instils a certain sense of discipline in making us a republic. “I don’t think it is about being touchy. The national flag and the national anthem bring about some kind of discipline. You have to abide by the rules and the code of conduct. There are no excuses for holding the flag upside down. The question here is of carelessness and whether we take such codes seriously. People treat it as a jaane do case and let it go like most of our other issues, which is where our problems arise,” she says.
While holding a flag upside down is an act that constitutes dishonour to the tricolour, media professional Priya Rao is alarmed at how the same rule is not even observed in a cricket stadium. “I remember how I have collected the national flags at various stadiums after people merrily treated their popcorn packets and the national flag in the same league after a match. When you talk about national flag and honour, isn’t such an act reprehensible too?” she says.
Ad man Prahlad Kakkar feels that though we are an increasingly intolerant nation, the flag must be accorded the respect it deserves. He tries to balance this by saying: “Of course, you cannot cross certain limits and this is a sensitive issue. You certainly can’t pose nude with the flag. But this doesn’t take away the fact that we are an insecure and intolerant nation.”