It would seem you can never be too careful with the national flag these days. If it was a conventional use of the tricolour that triggered loud protest in one instance, it is its rather unconventional deployment that looks all set to spawn some more. A few days ago Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik protested against rose petals being wrapped in the tricolour and the flag being strung to balloons released in the air at Independence Day- a practice that has traditionally and officially been followed on such occasions for many years. More recently, a fledgling fashion designer's collection on display at the ongoing India Fashion Week is courting controversy on account of a certain cocktail dress made out in tricolour, including a strategically placed blue chakra. It may be unfair to couple the honourable minister's righteous indignation (on which he has backtracked since) with the wannabe fashion designer's rendering of the flag into fashion kitsch. But the two incidents are similar for more than the fact that they involve the violation, perceived or real, of the Flag Code. Both have touched the same raw nerve. It is about more than injured patriotism, perhaps, though we live in times when that feeling has never been more called upon to prove itself. It is also about change. Is it too much to hope that in these changing times, some things will remain the same? Surely, the national symbols - the national flag, the national anthem, the national emblem - must remain inviolate. Surely, the Flag Code which governs its usage - laying down on what occasions and in what manner the flag must be raised and lowered - is strictly non-negotiable. But seriously speaking, there is a quirky side to this issue too. Rules and formal codes of conduct, even those concerning the national symbols, are terribly embattled entities these days. These are times when an answer on a prime time quiz show may well ascribe the Jana Gana Mana to music whizkid A R Rahman, instead of Rabindranath Tagore, and the computer may even deem it to be the right answer. These are times when the Mahatma's visage finds itself recast by an inventive fashiondesigner as that all-Indian motif on an all-western style designer garment.Today, it is becoming more difficult than it ever was to impose uniform codes. According to eyewitness accounts, the "national dress" insisted upon by the official invitation card to the President's Independence Day "at home" varied with the wearer, even from one minister to another. There have been any number of incidents that have demonstrated this singular lack of agreement on what passes muster in the name of acceptable Indian national dress in clubs and other such institutions across the country. These are plural times we live in, and unruly too.Clearly, the old symbols are gaining newer meanings. And perhaps they should too. Why should old pieties survive in a new world? On the other hand, perhaps it is necessary that a line be drawn, that some rule-books remain inviolable. There are no easy answers to this one.
