Reverence, Resistance and Politics of Seeing the Indian National Flag

Abstract

This book studies the politics that make the tricolour flag possibly the most revered of the symbols, icons and markers associated with nation and nationalism in twentieth-century India. The emphasis on the flag as a visual symbol aims to question certain dominant assumptions about visuality. Anchored on Mahatma Gandhi's 'believing eye', this study reveals specificities of visual experience in the South Asian milieu. The account begins with a survey of the pre-colonial period, focuses on colonial lives of the flag, and then moves ahead to explain the contemporary dynamics of seeing the flag in India. The Flag Satyagraha of Jubblepore and Nagpur in 1922–23, the adoption of the Congress Flag in 1931, the resolution for the future flag in the Constituent Assembly of India in 1947, the history of the colour saffron, and the codes governing the flag, as well as legal cases, are all explored in depth in this book.

Floating Words and the Aesthetics of the Visual Vernacular: Political Culture in Contemporary India

“…The sect of Jehovah’s Witnesses does not endorse or believe in any symbol of temporal power and only pays obeisance to its God, Jehovah. A case was filed against the children and the legal battle went up to the Supreme Court, which observed that no disrespect was shown to the national anthem by not joining in the singing (Jha, 2016, pp. 178 –206).…”

“…Based on this brief overview of India’s history, one may argue that in the popular perception, both the national flag and the figure of Mother India come before us wrapped in the vocabulary of reverence and are bestowed with a language of the sacred specific to the socio-historical moorings of religiosity of the land (for detail see Jha, 2004; Jha, 2016).…”

Proto-fascism and State impunity in Majoritarian India: An Interview with Teesta Setalvad

“…82 Do you see any irony in the Indian flag as a symbol of resistance at a time like this because while the flag might be used as a strategic method of reclaiming nationalism from appropriation by Hindutva forces, the flag also reinforces a cartographic imagination of India that includes Kashmir, in effect normalising the occupation? 83 84 So even amongst the protestors, an assertion of Kashmiri selfdetermination is exceptionalised as more prejudicial than the questioning of the CAA's exclusionary logic. With regard to student protests on campuses, we have also seen the way the BJP government made it imperative for central universities to fly the tricolour to instil nationalism among students.…”

“Show Me the Race or the Nation without a Flag, and I Will Show You a Race of People without Any Pride”

“…Sadan Jha notes that the movement to adopt an Indian national flag many decades prior to independence was part of a nationalistic movement that sought to create a single Indian people-out of a welter of linguistic and religious communities-in distinction to the British who ruled over them. 40 So also in the United States large numbers of African Americans gravitated to a new movement that embraced black identity, complete with a flag and other symbols of nationhood, as distinct from the white-dominated American national identity. As Garvey noted, "This race of ours that cannot get recognition and respect in the country where we were slaves, by using our own ability, power and genius, would develop for ourselves .…”