P.S: Per a latest clarification by the Government, the objection is only with instances where the Flag is displayed without the Ashoka Chakra. According to them, "A mere combination of colours is not the national flag". How about Narain's helmet, which has a huge Blue wheel with the right number of spokes in it?
P.S 2The Hindu reports that Govt. is OK with Flags w/o the Chakra.
Tricolour will take a back seat on March six when Narain Karthikeyan becomes the first Indian to be featured in the F1, as the Union Government has banned the use of the Indian flag on helmets citing the existing flag code.
The Home Ministry argued that wearing national flag on accessories amount to its disrespect.
Karthikeyan is among the country’s sports personalities- along with cricketers Sachin and Ganguly, and another upcoming racer, Karun Chandhok – who wears national flag on their helmet.
5 comments:
yeah... i was pissed off when i read this.. hang on for a few years... when narain wins his first formula one, and these opportuniistic idiots will queue up to give him the arjuna award or watever... i wish he'd spat it back on their face....
i beg to differ. not that Narain will do injustice to the national flag, the strict flag code prevents it from being defaced and degraded by the general public, as is done in the United States. we Indians tend to infuse some degree of respect and awe to our national symbols and a few sacrifices to maintain that tradition doesnt seem out of place. when Narain participates and wins the race, his name and his nationality as an indian will be known world-wide, not withstanding whether his accessories are displayed or not.
Indu, how does a flag on a sportsman's headgear amount to degrading the National Flag? The Flag on Narain's "accessory" isn't there to identify him as an Indian, but for us to feel proud on an international arena, which is so rare.
How exactly do the Americans "deface" their flag? Tell me where else would you find people displaying Flags on their Front yards, Cars, T's, even in their Work area? The jingoism doesn't get any better. Don’t soldiers die for that same flag?
i didnt mean to suggest that it would be degrading for Narain to display the flag, just that it would give way for others (who might degrade it) to do so. in the US, it is true that a lot of people display their flag proudly, but i personally cannot identify with a culture that displays their national flag on personal clothing (like bikini, etc.) in the recent past there was a controversy over Indian gods and goddess pictures printed on personal clothing (not sure if it was an indian company or foreign one), but i certainly wouldnt want that to happen to our national flag.
hey indu, i think you are missing the whole point here....if you look at the picture of narains helment, he used the pait scheme rather than the whole flag....btw, didnt indian cricket team use the same type of apparel in their uniforms??......your terminlogy about putting the tricolor in underwear and t-shirts is indeed defaming the tricolor......moreover, indian armed forces uses the tricolor in their uniforms at several instances....we have to recognize F1 as a sport and give narain permission to use the flag in his uniform....afterall, the flag belongs to the citizes right.
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