MUMBAI: Off the Western Express Highway, past monsoon puddles, at Naigaon East sits a massive compound. On entering the compound gate, you find a huge Tricolour flying above a high pole. The glass door nearby leads to the factory where dozens of workers are busy creating our Tiranga of various sizes.
From procuring fabric to painting, colouring, ironing, cutting and packing, the flag-making company's 55,000 sq ft factory is working overtime to meet the huge demand. "Never before in my life have I seen such a great demand for the Tricolour. It is difficult to meet the demand since we cannot compromise on quality," says the company's founder-owner 74-year-old Amarjjit Singh Nagi.
Ever since the Centre announced the "Har Ghar Tiranga '' campaign as part of Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav, the celebrations of 75th year of our Independence, the demand for the national flag has shot up. What has accentuated this demand is Home Minister Amit Shah's appeal to the citizens on Friday this past week to hoist the Tricolour from their homes from August 13 to 15. "The bulk of the order has put us into overdrive. People are ordering online too," says Nagi's son Dalbir. At his first-floor office at the factory premises Nagi shows us a circular of the Maharashtra government which names his company among the flag makers from where the flags can be procured. The circular also speaks of the government's resolve to see flags in 1.46 crore homes and 1.50 crore offices across the state.
Since the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign is backed by the BJP's top leaders, including PM Narendra Modi and Shah, the party workers have begun finding ways and means to make the campaign a grand success. The minority leaders of the BJP in the state too have got activated. BJP (Maharashtra) secretary Haider Azam has decided to distribute one lakh flags free among different mosques, madrassas and minority-owned schools and colleges across the state. "This is to create patriotic feelings among the citizens. We will ensure that the national flag reaches at least one lakh Muslim homes and establishments," says Azam who recently got senior BJP leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis gift a flag to cleric Mufti Manzur Ziyaee.
Gyan Shah at Byculla is preparing to meet the BMC officials in a day or two to discuss the order for the Tricolour that the Civic body wants to place. "The demand has jumped to 40% to 50% more than what it used to be on the eve of August 15 in the previous years. It is good that many people will now hoist the Tricolour on and around our Independence Day," says Shah. Both Nagi and Shah assert that Indians are not much used to hoisting the Tricolour like, say, Americans are.
"Everywhere you go in America, you will see people hoisting their national flag. It is displayed at government offices, private homes, factories, schools and colleges. We woke up to it only after industrialist Naveen Jindal won a court battle (in 1996) for flying the national flag as a fundamental right," says Nagi.
