Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council B.K. Hariprasad has said that the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee will hold a meeting on Wednesday to decide on the course of action on the recent amendment to National Flag Code by the Union government allowing production of the flag using polyester cloth.
He was speaking to presspersons after visiting the national flag manufacturing unit at Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha, Bengeri, in Hubballi on Monday. The sangha houses the country’s lone BIS-recognised flag manufacturing unit.
Mr. Hariprasad said that it was sad that at a time when the country was celebrating its platinum jubilee of Independence, the Centre was disgracing the flag by amending the code. “The Congress will stand with khadi and village industries on this issue,” he said
“National flag is not just another cloth. It has emotional attachment with every Indian. It is not the first time that the Centre is disgracing the freedom fighters. They have continued it with amending the flag code. In the coming days, democracy and Constitution would also be cut short,” he said.
Mr. Hariprasad said that when freedom fighters had given a call for hoisting the national flag on every house, Keshav Hedgewar, Golwalkar and others of RSS had given call for hoisting the saffron flag instead of tricolour. “BJP has never given respect to the national flag,” he said.
He said that those involved in production of national flag were working for low wages and they were not just working for wages but for the pride of being involved in the tricolour production. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps raising sloans like ‘Atma Nirbhar’ and ‘Make in India’ but never speaks a word about the khadi and village industries. Nearly 1.6 cr people are associated with khadi and village industries directly and indirectly. The Centre’s words are just slogans,” he said.
Mahatma Gandhi had launched the khadi campaign with the sole objective of providing employment to rural population and also empowering the rural economy. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks about dream of Mahatma Gandhi when goes abroad. But when he returns to India, he takes steps to make the dream of Godse a reality. This is unfortunate. The amendment to flag code should be withdrawn immediately,” he demanded.
Earlier, accompanied by MLA Prasad Abbayya, Congress leaders, Rajat Ullagaddimath, Robert Daddapuri, Shajzaman Mujahid and others, Mr. Hariprasad interacted with the staff of the flag manufacturing unit and acquainted himself with the various stages of making a flag.
