What’s wrong in having own flag for state, asks Karnataka CM

Bengaluru, Jul 19: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday defended the state government’s decision to constitute a panel to look into the demand to accord official status to the Kannada flag, saying that there is nothing wrong in having a separate state flag.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said, “We have a Nadageethe (state song), what is wrong in having an official state flag? There has been a demand from various quarters that official status be accorded to the Kannada flag.

The panel will look into all aspects. The government will take a call on its next step of action only after the panel submits its report,” Siddaramaiah added.

He said the Constitution of India does not restrict states from having their own official flags.

To a query, he sought to know whether there is any specific provision in the Constitution that prohibits the state from having its own flag. “Has the BJP come across such a provision?” he asked.

He dared the BJP leaders to make a public statement that the party is not in favour of a flag for Karnataka.

On the BJP’s charge that the flag issue is being raised with an eye on the Assembly polls, Siddaramaiah said, “Elections are still a long way to go.... It will be held in April-May next year and not tomorrow. The BJP is indulging in a disinformation campaign,” he remarked.

Siddaramaiah said that having a state flag will not come in the way of national integrity and unity. “The national flag comes first. State flag is not an alternative to the national flag,” he added.

The state government recently set up a nine-member committee of officials to look into the demand for according official status to the Kannada flag.

The committee is headed by Kannada and Culture department principal secretary. Heads of Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Finance and Law departments and PWD are the members of the panel, which will hold consultation with experts and Kannada writers in this regard.

The committee has been directed to submit its report, recommending steps to be taken for granting official status to the Kannada flag, sources in the Kannada and Culture department said.

The committee is likely to recommend to the government to enact a legislation to accord the official status to the flag, the sources added.

Kannada flag – rectangular in shape, with a strip of yellow (top half) and red in equal measure – has so far remained only an idea. The flag was first conceived by Kannada activist Ma Ramamurthy, who used it as a flag for ‘Kannada Paksha,’ a party founded by him in 1965. In 1998, the Kannada Development Authority had recommended to the government to give the flag an official status. However, the Law department turned down the proposal citing legal hurdles, the sources said.

In 2012, the then BJP government had issued a circular making it compulsory for government offices, schools and colleges to hoist the Kannada flag on November 1.

However, a division bench of the High Court of Karnataka questioned the government’s move to hoist any flag other than the national flag. The circular was subsequently withdrawn.