Bengaluru: Congress will hold a Dhwaja Satyagraha” on July 30 in protest against the BJP’s alleged plans to amend the National Flag Code to permit the manufacture and import of polyester national flags, the party said here on Friday July 8.
The Indian National Congress (INC) supports the Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha demand for withdrawal of the decision to hold a Dhwaja Satyagraha, it said.
“Tricolour (tiranga) is a symbol of the nation’s freedom and sovereignty. Its khadi signifies how the people of India defeated the mighty British Empire using the simple charkha, a symbol of self-sufficiency, spiritual humility, national integrity, social equality, communal harmony and ahimsa.”
Addressing a press conference Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said: “These are values alien to the BJP and its predecessors who played no role in the freedom movement, in the design of the national flag or in the popularisation of khadi.”
He alleged that the BJP is inspired by the Hindu Mahasabha that formed coalitions with the Muslim League in Sind, Bengal and the North West Frontier Province to subvert nationalist forces, namely the Congress.
“Its parent organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) refused for half a century to hoist the tiranga at its Nagpur headquarters. Far from respecting the national flag, it had three activists arrested on 26 January 2001 for attempting to hoist the tiranga on RSS premises (Case No. 176, Nagpur). The BJP is the same party whose office-bearers are known to have joined terrorist groups.” Ajoy Kumar added.
The Congress said that Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha is the only unit licensed to produce khadi national flags, and is facing closure as a result of this decision. The INC fully associates itself at the national and state level with its Dhwaja Satyagraha and urges all nationalist forces to join in.
