Siddaramaiah’s devious poll gimmick

It is a measure of the lack of constructive attitude of the Karnataka government that with elections to the State assembly less than an year away, there is no scramble on the part of the Siddaramaiah government to show results in improving the lot of the people but an attempt to stir up emotive issues. Weeks ago it was an anti-Hindi campaign which did not show promise. Now, there is a renewed attempt at raising the temperature by raking up a campaign for a State flag to replace the national flag in Karnataka. The government took a step towards setting up a nine-member panel to design a ‘legally acceptable’ flag for the state, stoking a fresh controversy. Even as the Centre proclaims that it is seeking to reinforce unity in the country through ‘one nation one tax’ (the GST) the Siddaramaiah government is looking at polarising the Kannadigas on the State flag pretext which it well knows would be opposed by the Centre. The game is to arouse sentiments against the Centre and capitalise on the division.

The Siddaramaiah government is acutely conscious that the Congress is slipping everywhere except in Punjab where it recently stormed to power on the shoulders of veteran Amarinder Singh. The performance of the State government has been deeply disappointing, hence the attempt to clutch at straws. At present, no state except Jammu and Kashmir has a flag, and the move has evoked a sharp reaction from the BJP which has dubbed it anti-national. The Chief Minister baited the BJP saying, “Elections are in April. Let them make a statement saying they don’t need a flag.” Siddaramaiah is banking on the surmise that the judiciary would uphold the right to have its own flag so long as the supremacy of the national flag is not violated which in effect would mean that it must be flown lower than the national tricolour. Whatever the legal position, however, a State flag would undermine the spirit of national unity and must be eschewed.