The election war cry has rung out in Karnataka with a controversy over flags. A Hanuman dhwaja—a saffron flag with Lord Hanuman’s face—that had been hoisted on government land in Keragodu village in Mandya district, was brought down to hoist the tricolour on Republic Day. That it had been hoisted by a private trust and brought down by government authorities is lost amid the hue and cry raised over it. BJP workers and villagers are demanding that the dhwaja be raised again, while the government has maintained that no flag barring the tricolour can be hoisted on government land. The local panchayat development officer has been suspended for allowing a private trust to hoist the flag.
Suddenly, more flag poles and saffron flags are coming up in various districts, leading to friction. Another row over a green flag broke out in Tadkod village of Dharwad district after a youngster from a minority community put up a controversial social media post, leading to communal tension. This issue is also festering, though the villagers have tamped down on violence.
The two controversies in the span of a week are threatening to polarise the state ahead of the elections. The BJP, which won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state the last time, is banking on the flag row to raise the political temperature, demanding that all green flags put up in minority areas be brought down. The Mandya incident is electorally significant because the BJP has failed to make inroads into this district, which voted overwhelmingly for the Congress in the assembly elections, and has traditionally voted either Janata Dal (Secular) or Congress.
In a show of unity, BJP and JDS leaders hit the streets of Mandya demanding that the saffron flag be reinstated. This could mark the beginning of communalisation of the state’s farming heartland, which chose independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha election over JDS chief H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.
The hoisting of a flag is symbolic of triumph and an assertion of the victor. In these charged times, when battles are sparked on the social media and fought on the streets, religious and sectarian flags are creating strife. If the country has to move ahead with the ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’ mantra, only the national flag should hold pride of place.