Taxi driver B. Murugan hates the sight of some of Coimbatore’s streets after Independence Day or Republic Day. “Our national flag is used in festoons. After all the celebrations, people just leave them there. The flags fall to the ground and are stepped on,” he says. “Sometimes, plastic flags are used. They flutter uncared for in the streets till the next year’s celebrations. The colours tend to fade in the sun.”
The beginning
On January 27, 2008, he, along with a few friends, walked the streets of the city with bags and collected flags that were neglected on roadsides. “Back then, we didn’t know which official to approach or what to do with the flags we collected. We took the whole lot home,” says Murugan, who cooks and serves food to the needy every Sunday as part of the activities of his trust Nizhal Maiyam. Murugan found flags strewn on roadsides the following year too. “Six of us went on a drive to collect the flags,” he recalls. He submitted a petition to the then district collector P. Umanath. But nothing seemed to work. Murugan even wrote to the Chief Minister in this regard.
In 2010, the members of Nizhal Maiyam organised rallies with student volunteers to spread awareness on the need to respect our national flag. “We have conducted four rallies so far,” says Murugan.
One such rally was conducted recently as part of the Coimbatore Vizha celebrations. Unmindful of the hot sun, about 150 volunteers including students from the Government Arts College walked from the Corporation Higher Secondary School for Boys, Sidhapudhur to VOC Park carrying banners and pamphlets that spoke of the need to respect our tricolour. A volunteer read out the Flag Code of India in Tamil on a mic. “The idea is to make people listen,” says Murugan. “We involve students because they might talk about it to their friends. The message would reach more people.” Fourteen-year-old Visithra from Sree Anbalayam Rehabilitation Centre has participated in all the four rallies conducted by Murugan and his team. “I have seen students step on national flags that fall in our school ground after occasions such as Republic Day. Flag pins that are dropped down are also stepped on unintentionally. I now tell them that this is equal to disrespecting our mother,” she says.
According to our Flag Code, “The National Flag of India shall be made of hand spun and hand woven wool/cotton/silk khadi bunting.” The Government of India is hence considering a ban on plastic national flags — a move that activists such as Murugan welcome.
“I hope that people celebrate this Republic Day with due respect to our flag,” says Murugan. This year too, Murugan and his friends plan to go around the city in bikes to collect flags on the roadside, if any. “I hope we don’t find too many this time,” he says.
