The Centre made a move to make all centrally funded universities compulsorily fly the national flag. It is just the wrong thing it could have done in the wake of the rumpus over the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) crisis. Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani has passed the resolution. The first national flag will be hoisted at the JNU. All this suggests that the Centre thinks patriotism is not in the blood of University students, that it has to be rammed down their throats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should be aware that nationalism is not its monopoly and cannot be force-fed. There is no reason to think that a large section of young students do not love their country though there is always room for debate over controversial issues. JNU student union President Kanhaiya Kumar has spoken eloquently about his love for his country. The BJP has obviously taken a political move to suppress dissent among young students. Protest is anathema to it. The protest in the JNU called for sensitive handling, not the manhandling of a CPI Member of Parliament and pointless violence shown at the court by a huge number of lawyers whose values are always sold for high fees. It was preposterous bringing the LeT into the shenanigans.
The adoption of the national flag was the culmination of the struggle for independence. It symbolizes people’s assertion of their sense of freedom. The Supreme Court recognized it in 2004 when it allowed individuals to claim and hoist it. But the flying of the national flag compulsorily at every centrally funded university may mean the stifling of democratic values and the youthful heterodoxy shown by agile students- especially at an august institution like the JNU.