About the author- The author of this article, Shailesh kumar, is a student of political science, pursuing his B.A at BJB Autonomous college.
‘Unity in diversity’, popularised by the first prime minister of India, is perhaps the most widely used phrase to describe India. But today that phrase seeks reexamination. The term ‘diversity’ needs to be differentiated from regionalism.Because when regionalism raises its head, unity gets compromised. On this backdrop, we need to examine the demand for constitutional status to a separate Kannada Flag.
Though this issue in Karnataka is not something new and it has been there since the 1960s, it got refueled last year when the then CM Siddharamaiah unveiled the proposed official flag of Karnataka ahead of the 2018 assembly elections and sent it to the central government for approval. While the Congress and the pro-Kannada activists are in support for a separate official flag, the BJP has been opposing this idea citing the reasons of national Unity and Integrity.
But it is important for us to understand that there are two main problems in granting Karnataka’s proposed flag an official status.
Firstly, it will inspire other states to demand separate flags for them. Once we had created Andhra Pradesh and then we had to reorganise India into states on linguistic basis. Moreover, what if tomorrow districts and cities start demanding separate flags. A nation cannot survive with hundreds of flags within the country. It would push India back to the pre-Independence era when we used to havehundreds of princely states with hundreds of rulers and symbols.
Secondly, it will sow the seeds of secessionism. Symbols like flags, anthems and emblems create a sense of absolute belongingnessamong the people of a particular region which ultimately leads to secessionist movements. Again, sub-nationalism in the south is not unknown to anyone and India, at present, cannot afford that.
Here we can take a lesson from Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir is a puzzle of many problems but one of them was the special status given to it. Before the abrogation of article 370, it had a separate flag, a separate constitution, citizenship and so on. And that special status was the reason why Kashmiris were alienated from the rest of India. We cannot let that happen in other parts of the nation.
In these matters, dilution of regionalism is the panacea. Hence demands for separate symbols should not be accepted or promoted. Because Symbols are not always just-symbolic.
Ek desh, ek vidhan, ek pradhan, ek nishan
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