National flags are considered sacred and every
country has rules about how flags are to be hoisted or flown. Here’s a general explanation of what it means when a flag is flown upside down: “Any flag flown upside-down is considered a sign of
distress... Mutiny, piracy, sinking, coup, rebellion of the people or
government. The fact that any flag flown upside-down means distress is not the
whole story however... flags flown upside-down can and are used as a form of
protest. The flag is a symbol of control and superiority. The use of such in
any other way is considered "desecration". In the US, flying a
flag upside down is also a call-sign of danger to life and property. In India
private citizens got the freedom to fly the national flag only a few years ago.
Patriots fly the flag on national days, at homes, at offices and honour it.
Children and even adults can sometimes be clumsy
and fly the flag upside down. This is often an honest, innocent mistake that
can be overlooked. But what does it say about public figures who negligently fly the flag upside down?
They too can claim it was an honest mistake but I believe it is unforgiveable. In
the pic Kapil Sibal is seen with a
foreign dignitary signing some accord. The flag in front of him is upside down.
These meets are hosted by very experienced staff members who understand
protocols and procedures. Theirs is not an “honest mistake” but an act of
“negligence”. What about Shahrukh Khan?
He was flying the flag upside down while taking a lap around a stadium filled
with thousands of people. Mind you, someone else didn’t mount the flag on a
staff for him. He did it himself sitting in his car (pics are available to
establish this) and while one will not know if he did it deliberately there can
be no denying he was negligent. It’s not wrong to call both these acts of
flying the flag upside down as acts of “desecration”. While Sibal is a minister
who may be replaced, SRK is not. There is no reason why these two individuals
shouldn’t be punished and stripped of their right to fly the flag for a few
years.
There is a complaint still pending against Kapil Sibal. I am unaware of the
current status of this complaint and media won’t bother tracking. A case
against SRK has also been filed for disrespecting our flag. The PuneMirror headline
interestingly says “SRK targeted”. Targeted?
He is being “targeted”? What does
that mean? He’s being “victimised” for his crime? So when a Mumbai traffic cop,
Sujata Patil, wrote a poem in
anguish and anger against the rioters at Azad
Maidan (August 2012) many activists were up in arms calling her a communal
hater. Actually, we don’t even know who these activists were. Well, one of them
definitely was Javed Akhtar. This
guy is a filmy-type poet and the face of “liberal Muslims” but while he wants the
freedom to write all his poems and dialogues, many of them violent filth, he
doesn’t want the same freedom for Patil. The other, predictably, is the
foul-mouthed Mahesh Bhatt. What
about him? This Bhatt guy is so filled with communal-hatred that when the Delhi
Gangrape victim died on December 29, 2012 he tweeted seeking to “shut down temples” as if Hindu temples
were the cause of Gangrapes.
Sujata Patil wrote her poem in anger against those
rioters at Azad Maidan who molested female cops and destroyed the AmarJawan memorial. The very activists
who cried “death” to rapists couldn’t stand a poem against molesters of women.
Sujata only wrote a poem with metaphors suggesting hands molesting women or
destroying monuments be chopped off. She was actually lamenting the
helplessness of the Police and public in general rather than calling for any
violent action. Her poem was written in Marathi and published in an internal
Newsletter (November 2012) of Mumbai police. Many translations of this poem in
English are floating around. But I had this translated by a very reliable media
person. This person is a Marathi and works in a prominent English-media house
and I received this note and the translation:
“Here's my version... I
think the attack she talks about is more about the attack on us as a people,
who remained spectators to the crime of the Amar Jawan being vandalised. And
all we needed to do was teach them a lesson then and there - and we knew how -
with a lathi and pistol - but we just failed to understand this - we just
failed to act. Ironically the poem is
titled Azad Maidan - Free Ground - and how their hands were tied”.
Now, though the poem may be harsh and angry it does
not in any way offend any community in particular. It is unlikely that it will
even provoke any hatred or any violent action. The only reaction came from some
who seem to have been actually involved in the Azad Maidan rioting. The Hindu reports that among the
complainants was Nazar Mohammed Siddique, one of the accused arrested in the
Azad Maidan violence case, who is currently out on bail. Ironical that one who is accused of violence at Azad Maidan finds a
poem offensive and hateful. TOI reports that Mahesh Bhatt commented: “… time is here to put our police
force on the psychiatric couch and find out from where their hatred towards
minority originates”. I believe it’s Mahesh Bhatt who is long overdue for a
mental check-up given his frequent communal and hate-filled outbursts. Sujata
may have called the rioters “traitors and snakes” according to some
translations but I don’t find her anger misplaced.
In my books anyone who negligently or wilfully
disrespects our National Flag is automatically anti-national. I don’t see why
Sujata Patil is wrong or should be condemned for calling those who molested
women cops and destroyed the AmarJawan memorial anti-nationals or traitors. I
don’t see anything wrong if she figuratively
suggests such hands should be chopped. It’s
a poem, not a call to arms. People may remember that a Kerala professor’s hand was chopped off for merely writing something offensive to Muslims. If
mere writing can lead to such intolerance and violent action by the Islamists
what exactly is wrong in just writing a poem condemning the violent and
anti-national actions of rioters? Mahesh Bhatt and Javed Akhtar are up in arms
because they claim the poem is against “minorities”. Give it a break “Sickulars”!
It’s just a coincidence that the Azad Maidan rioters also happened to be
Muslims (or weren’t they?). It could have been any other group too. Fact is,
these TarBhatts and others like them
couldn’t whip up similar courage and anger to condemn the riots and the
destruction of the AmarJawan memorial. And some had the gall to compare Sujata
to Akbar Owaisi.
AO openly called for violence against Hindus. He
has made not one but a series of
hate speeches. The last one being the most hateful, someone filed a case
against him. There was an outrage on social media which forced the MSM to
report. All these years the filmy cowards and others didn’t have the guts to
point one little finger at AO. The laughable part is AO now claims his voice was doctored in the hate-speech video. That’s the coward’s excuse. He might
next claim it wasn’t him but his “nephew” who is in the video. Sujata has
lamented the helplessness of the police and common people and vents her anger
against molesters, rioters and anti-nationals. Those who can’t tell the
difference are the ones who need some psychiatric help.
It’s undeniable that the police watched as the mob
went into an orgy of violence, destruction and molested their female colleagues.
It is just as absurd that after all the outrage over the Delhi Gangrape, over
which activists and filmy-types called for ‘chemical castration’ and death for
all rapists, now find a poem against molesters and anti-nationals unpalatable.
The police blindness during the Azad Maidan is the typical inaction that motivates
the brazenness of the likes of AO who then call for genocide. Sujata Patil has
been forced to apologise for her literary piece but that doesn’t alter the fact
that many may share her anger over police’s hands being tied during such incidents.
As for the destruction of the AmarJawan memorial only shameless cowards can
condemn any writing against such anti-nationals. Flying a flag upside down is anti-national and should be seriously
punished. Destruction of memorials to our martyrs is no different and those
who protest anger against them with fake and unjustified outrage, simply
because the rioters were from a minority group, are nothing less than cowards.
