RSS Sarsanghchalak (Chief) Mohan Bhagwat defied a Government order this Republic Day and unfurled the national flag at a school in Palakkad in Kerala. Mohan Bhagwat unfurled the tricolor at Vyasa Vidhya Peetam Higher Secondary School. In order to prevent Mohan Bhagwat from attending the program or unfurling the national flag at the school at Kellekkad in Palakkad district of Kerala, the Left Front Government in the state had issued a circular, which directed that only heads of institutions hoist the national flag in government and educational institutions followed by the singing of the national anthem. The school in question is a private school run by Vidhyabharti Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan an organization of RSS. The school is not bound by the order of the Kerala Government in this regard.
The entire strength of the school, that is, around 1800 students and over 200 teachers took part in the ceremony in which Mr. Bhagwat was the chief guest. Many senior leaders of the RSS in the State were present on the occasion. BJP State President Kummanam Rajasekharan also attended the function. The aggregate number of those attending the function swelled when around 9000 to 10000 workers and cadres of the RSS from across the entire state of Kerala who are in Palakkad to attend a three-day camp (also known as Sibiram) joined the students and teachers of the school. Mohan Bhagwat will stay in Palakkad for 3 days and also be a part of the RSS camp (Sibiram). Last year on the occasion of Independence Day, the Sarsanghchalak of the RSS had hoisted the national flag at another school in Palakkad in Kerala.
Sub-Section 2.2 of the Flag Code of India, 2002 explicitly mentions that a member of public, a private organization or an educational institution may hoist/display the National Flag on all days and occasions, ceremonial or otherwise. Sub-Section 2.3 makes provides model set of instructions for hoisting the national flag in educational institutions Sub-Section2.3(i) mentions that the school will assemble in open square formation with pupils forming the three sides and the Flag-staff at the centre of the fourth side. The headmaster, pupil leader and the person unfurling the Flag (if other than the Headmaster) will stand three paces behind the Flag-staff. It becomes evident on a plain reading of the relevant provisions above that the circular issued by the CPM Government of Kerala to prevent the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was contrary to the guidelines provided by the Flag Code of India, 2002. The current Flag Code of India in came into force on 26th January 2002.
Kerala has been a political battleground of the Communists and the RSS. In the past few years, many RSS workers have been brutally killed in the state where CPM goons enjoy political patronage. Now, the lackadaisical approach of the state government has also thoroughly emboldened organizations such as the Popular Front of India (PFI), which was also responsible for the cutting off the hand of Professor T J Joseph at Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district, under the previous Left Front Government in 2010. In 2012, the Kerala Government had informed the Kerala High Court through an affidavit that the PFI was nothing but a resurrection of the banned SIMI in another form. As per this affidavit, the PFI was then responsible for the murder of close to 27 RSS workers. The violence, including murder of many RSS activists, in the sensitive region of North Kerala is carried out by PFI. Gradually, the PFI is also increasing its activities in the neighbouring region of coastal Karnataka. This is also a region that has of late seen increasing violence against RSS workers under the passive Congress Government of Karnataka.
In such adverse conditions where organizations such as PF, DYFI and SDPI are hellbent on undermining sovereignty of India operate with immunity and active patronage of the state Government the RSS workers have been holding forth. The National Investigation Agency investigating the murder of R Rudresh in Bangalore last year had recently submitted its chargesheet to the court. In the chargesheet the NIA had mentioned the incident as a clear case of terrorism. 5 members of the PFI are accused in this case. When the ordinary RSS workers are being crushed by the “non-state actors” in Kerala and Karnataka, the RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat has led from the front and made regular trips to these states in order to boost the morale of the beleaguered RSS workers. The motivated RSS cadres and increasing support for them are a direct threat to the misrule of the state governments in Kerala and Karnataka. The blatantly invalid order by the Communist Government of Kerala to bar Mohan Bhagwat from unfurling the tricolor should be seen in this light. Fittingly, the RSS chief defied the order and unfurled the national flag.