As countdown to Kannada Rajyotsava begins, the state government is thinking of filing a review petition seeking permission to hoist Kannada flag at all government offices, schools and colleges on November 1, the Karnataka formation day.
A PIL filed before the High Court by Prakash Shetty contended that Narayana Gowda, president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, had been misusing the flag for promoting the organisation and for personal gain.
Hearing the petition, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen observed that as there is no provision for state flags in the constitution and if it hoists then it would be a disrespect to the national flag and refused the government’s argument that it would only hoist the flag on November 1.
“By blocking the national flag, you are leading to disintegration of the nation and if you won’t control others using the flag, it will reflect on you as a weak State. Flag is an emblem of sovereignty,” he said. He said, “You can use the colours for decoration, not as a flag.”
Following this direction, government had filed an affidavit before the HC stating, “No flag other than the national flag can be hoisted and saluted by the State during official functions. And the decision announced in the Budget when D V Sadananda Gowda was CM to make it mandatory on hoisting the flag would be withdrawn.”
Principal Secretary to the Department of Kannada and Culture B Basavaraju told Express that the state would file a review petition in two days. “The department has already convened a round of meeting with CM Jagadish Shettar on the issue and after consultations, will file an review petition before HC requesting to re-call it’s interim order,” he added.
Origin of the Flag
During 1960s members of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party hoist their party flag in functions held in Bangalore as a show of strength. Irked by this, Kannada activist Ma Ramamurthy introduced the yellow and red Kannada flag, which went on to be used during pro-Kannada protest to gain attention. It is said that this yellow-red flag is officially identified as the flag belonging to “Kannada Paksha” built by Ma Ramamurthy.
