ON OCTOBER 16 AROUND two thousand people succeeded in gathering in Delhi’s Connaught Circus holding national flag to participate in the “‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ (wave the tricolour) march in spite of the Modi regime unleashing coercive power of Delhi police in an unabashed manner to prevent them and Cockroach Janata Party leader Abhijit Dipke and feisty Neha Vora of All India Students Organisation (AISA) for leading the march. Such blatant use of force and intimidation for crushing dissent did not deter them to hit the streets and exercise their right to wave tricolour and interrogate the political regime at the centre which has emerged as spokesperson of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to defend his acts of commission and omission in implementing SIR in a flawed manner and causing disenfranchisement of millions of voters across India. Such struggles of people in defence of right to vote and universal adult franchise by waving tricolour in face of massive police crackdown and threat of attack is unprecedented in the annals of independent India.
Both Abhijit and Neha were detained by police and their lawyers had to struggle through the night of 16th October to trace them. It is now reported that Neha was released in the morning of October 17 and Dipke is set to be produced before the magistrate.
Firing at People in 1938 for Hoisting National Flag
Such severe repressive police measures against those waving tricolour agonisingly remind the sinister and brutal police firing in Mysore princely State's Vidurashwatha village, close to the now Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border, on 25th April 1938 against people who joined “Dhwaja Satyagraha”, (Flag Satyagraha) for hoisting national flag. Sadly 32 of them succumbed to police bullets, laying down their lives. Massacre of people who gathered in that village defying prohibitory orders to hoist national flag prompted historians to draw parallel with the cold-blooded killing at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 on account of firing ordered by General Dyer. Therefore, Vidurashwatha village where people were killed by police firing in 1938 for the cause of national flag has been described as Jallianwala Bagh of south.
It is significant to recall that tragic episode concerning bravery of people in facing police bullets for proudly holding national flag and their intent to hoist it.
Gandhi’s on Linking Struggle for National Flag With Representative Government
Four days after that massacre, on 29th April 1938, Mahatma Gandhi in a press statement poignantly stated that, 'There has been firing upon an unarmed crowd, resulting in several deaths and many more being injured.’ “The demonstration that is going on in Mysore about the national flag” he proceeded to assert “is a symptom of the time.”
Those words of Gandhi that “The demonstration that is going on in Mysore about the national flag is a symptom of the time” resonate in the attempts of youth of India, led by Abhijit Dipke and Neha Vora, for waving national flag to hold the Modi regime and Chief Election Commissioner to account for dealing a fatal blow to the Constitution and parliamentary democracy through the operation of SIR in transgression of Article 325. It mandates, among others, that “..no person shall be ineligible for inclusion in any such roll (general electoral roll) or claim to be included in any special electoral roll for any such constituency(for every territorial constituency) on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or any of them.” The flawed electoral roll generated by SIR process has removed names of millions of voters on grounds of so called “logical discrepancies” and other curated algorithms targeting Muslims, women and underprivileged sections for erasing their constitutional right to vote. When vast masses of Muslims and women are removed from electoral roll then the mandate of Article 325 that “..no person shall be ineligible for inclusion in any such roll (general electoral roll) or claim to be included in any special electoral roll for any such constituency(for every territorial constituency) on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or any of them” stand violated. Such a provision in the Constitution was enshrined to establish representative Government in India so that people’s will and authority is reflected emphatically and in full measure. Kudos to youth of India that they by their actions to wave national flag are engaged in an arduous struggle in defence of an authentic representative Government which during Modi regime is persuasively accused of vote chori (vote theft) against which there is now country wide outrage and protests.
It is heartening to note that there is an echo of what Mahatma Gandhi stated about representative Government after the massacre of people for the cause of national flag in Mysore. He said in the aforementioned “Statement to the Press’ in 1938 that the Maharaj of Mysore in response to the tragic killing of people for waving national flag was to “divest the Government of its autocracy and to make popular representatives responsible for the administration of Mysore.” Those words of Mahatma resonate “in the ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ (waving of national flag) march in defence of a representative Government based on purity of electoral roll legitimately reflecting mandate of the people.
Gandhi went on to say that people sacrificing their lives for national flag in Mysore constituted, in his words, “..small price paid for the liberty of the people.” “I would,” he remarked forcefully, “ use these sacrifices for gaining the liberty for which they had been made voluntarily or involuntarily.” “I have been told that the people have been behaving with exemplary non-violence and that the crowd bravely suffered the firing. If that is proved to be the case, I for one will rejoice over the loss of life. It is the necessary price paid for gaining liberty,” he very boldly remarked.
The sacrifices of people in Mysore did not go in vain. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was sent to bring about a settlement with Mysore Maharaja who assured to initiate constitutional reforms, release political prisoners and withdraw prohibitory orders. In his article, “Resolution on Mysore Settlement” published in the Harijan on May 21, 1938, Gandhi reiterated that “….Mysore ruler should establish responsible government in his State so that the responsibility for law and order including firing, whenever it is deemed necessary, will be shouldered by a government answerable to the people.”
In that context he thoughtfully remarked, “It should further be borne in mind that the national flag is the symbol of non-violence and national unity to be brought about by means strictly truthful and non-violent.”
Exemplary Nono-Violence of Defenders of Flag
People of Mysore in 1938 displayed, in the words of Gandhi, “exemplary non-violence” in upholding national flag, while laying down their lives facing police bullets. Eighty eight years later in 2026 youth are remaining totally non-violent and peaceful for waving national flag and yet Modi regime, tragically, is deploying massive police force to quell the peaceful youth intending to take forward their “‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ march. Gandhi had warned Maharaja of Mysore in his aforementioned article published in the Harijan that he should “….recognise the signs of the times and establish responsible government within their borders and otherwise extend and guard the liberty of the people under their jurisdiction.”
Gandhi’s Warnings Resonate
Those warnings for autocratic Maharaja of Mysore are more relevant for Modi regime which has been described as elected autocracy. The signs of our time in India are that people specially the youth are in forefront of non-violent struggle to save the Constitution and defend their right to vote. This struggle cannot be suppressed by police repression contrary to the constitutionally enshrined fundamental right to protest and express dissent.