The “silent service” was recently in the news for good reason. Last month President Abdul Kalam inked a revised order restoring the vertical and horizontal red stripes to the naval ensign. The naval chief needs to be applauded because the naval hierarchy obviously concluded that there had been an error of judgement which had to be corrected and fortunately Raisina Hill played its part and South Block did not create any blocks.All through our life on the ocean waves, in the pre and post-Independence eras, we sailed under the white ensign carrying a prominent red St George’s cross. Therefore, on August 15, 2001, when the old ensign was substituted by a new, somewhat inconspicuously designed flag to be hoisted on flag staffs in our ships and “stone frigates” on shore, it was for many like me a painful departure from the past. President K.R. Narayanan had taken the abundant precaution of getting the then chief, Admiral Sushil Kumar’s word that this was what the navy wanted.Now there has been a welcome rollback. The change to swadeshi in 2001 had become necessary because some patriotic souls felt that the old red St George’s Cross was a hangover of the colonial legacy. But the new flag, with just the blue and white, made it almost invisible on the high seas and what is a military presence without a conspicuous banner under which to wage battle or indeed, in current parlance, to “wage for peace”!Significantly, the white ensign will now stand for much more. First, the nationalistic fervour of the Tricolour in the upper canton. Then, the distinctive horizontal and vertical red stripes, with the state emblem of three lions and Dharmachakra at their intersection. And all this on a brilliant white background of the flag. Why, one may ask, should there have been any ground for embarrassment just because the naval ensign was super-imposed by a Saint’s cross? Except to some diehard fundamentalists? After all, a distinctive composition of several million Christians enriches the enviable multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic tapestry of this nation. It is worth recalling what Pandit Nehru, after spending a few days with the officers and men of the naval fleet, wrote in 1955 to the then CNS, Admiral Sir Mark Pizey, “My visit to the naval fleet has enhanced my admiration for the way in which officers and men from all walks of life, from different races and religions and from all over India are welded together as one unit.”So, what’s in a name and what’s wrong with calling it St George’s cross? In any event the “red” coloured vertical and horizontal stripes will surely not have displeased even George, the one-time socialist heading the MOD until recently, and would be welcome to “a political party of a particular hue”.
