Kannada Rajyotsava: ‘State flag’ at celebrations puts govt in a spot

BENGALURU: The yellow-red Kannada flag featured prominently at various events marking the Karnataka formation day on Friday, creating an awkward moment for the BS Yediyurappa government, which has refused to pursue the proposal for an official state banner.
At different Rajyotsava programmes, BJP leaders, district in-charge ministers and Union ministers hoisted, along with the tricolour, the Kannada flag with a picture of Bhuvaneswari Devi, who is revered as the mother of Karnataka.At some places, only the Kannada flag was displayed.
Home minister Basavaraj Bommai said it was important to hoist the Kannada flag with the national one on the state foundation day. But minister for Kannada and culture CT Ravi said it was an “individual decision”, and not that of the state government.
After coming to power in July, the BJP government announced it would not take the separate banner proposal, which was moved by the previous Congress administration, to the Centre. “The tricolour is the only constitutional flag,” Ravi had previously said. He hoisted the tricolour in Chikkamagaluru, his home district, on Friday. “Vested interests have raked up the state flag controversy. In Chikkamagaluru, there has never been a tradition of raising a state flag. Our government has submitted an affidavit to court that we don’t have a state flag. When this is the government’s position, how can a state flag be hoisted?” he said. On other ministers displaying the Kannada flag, he said: “It’s an individual choice.”
Bommai admitted Udupi, too, didn’t have a history of raising the state flag, but he had asked officials to start it as a new tradition from 2020.