Flagging popularity

There are many ways to achieve distinction, but Karnataka is contemplating adopting a unique route to the limelight: having a state flag, a proposal that was earlier given a burial by the BJP when it was in power in the state.

It’s hard to say if the current Congress government’s decision is motivated by electoral politics — stoking regional pride can come in handy since the current dispensation will have to fight incumbency. But how important is a state flag for the people of that province? Only Jammu and Kashmir has a state flag that has been around since 1939. But can the broader questions of a people’s identity — Kannadigas in this case — be addressed with a flag?

Last year speculations were rife whether the Nagas would get a separate flag and a constitution. While pride in one’s ethnicity or state is legitimate, the noble emotion can find articulation in matters which can improve the lives of citizens.

Creating employment opportunities, building infrastructure, eradicating poverty and illiteracy, and fostering communal harmony will restore people’s faith in governance. Instead of constituting a committee to consider the details of a new flag and its constitutional and legal validity, the state government should pump its resources into areas where it can make a positive contribution.

Not quite in the same league, but the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s efforts in 2016 to formulate a separate foreign policy for his state had raised many eyebrows. Can our CMs go slow on such innovative ideas?