NEW DELHI: As it celebrates the unveiling of a new ensign of the Indian Navy, inspired by Shivaji, as another step to banish colonial influence, BJP has questioned opposition parties over their “silence” over what it calls steps to celebrate nationalist ethos.
I&B minister Anurag Thakur led the saffron charge saying the “silence” maintained by some people (apparently a reference to the opposition parties) shows they have not been able to digest the move.
“The silence of some people on the subject of national pride raises questions about them. Today, under the leadership of PM Modi, the Government of India has adopted the octagonal symbol of Maratha pride Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as the new flag of the Navy. Maybe some people didn’t digest this thing. Reason?” Thakur tweeted.
While unveiling the new ensign on Friday, PM Modi recited a poem of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar dedicated to the national flag and said, “With this flag veneration, I dedicate this new flag to the father of country’s Navy, Chhatrapati Veer Shivaji Maharaj.”
The party emphasised that the last effort to abandon St George’s Cross, a colonial legacy, was also made under a BJP government and said Congress was obsessed with the colonial hangover and did not want to shed it as it retained the British flag in the ensign.
“Congress should explain what prompted them to reverse the decision taken by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2001 when the naval ensign had been redesigned,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
BJP MP Tejaswi Surya said, “It speaks volumes of Congress’s slavish and colonised mindset” The octagonal shape with twin golden borders draws inspiration from Indian emperor Chathrapathi Shivaji’s seal.