The Flag That Took Five Decades to Fly

Nagesh Bhushan Chuppala 

It is a curious footnote in the annals of Indian politics that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party—spent more than half a century refusing to raise the nation’s own tricolour over its Nagpur headquarters. The story of how three young activists forced the issue in 2001 reads like a political thriller, complete with courtroom drama, a decade‑long prison stint and a final judicial shrug.

A Long‑Standing Taboo

The RSS hoisted the flag on two historic occasions: the moment India celebrated its independence on 15 August 1947 and the first Republic Day on 26 January 1950. After that, the saffron‑clad organisation left the flag untouched for fifty‑two years, a silence that would later become a lightning rod for critics. When the Flag Code was amended in 2002 to permit private bodies to display the national emblem on designated days, the RSS finally complied—albeit reluctantly—raising the tricolour on Republic Day that year.

The 2001 Protest

On 26 January 2001, three members of the RSS‑affiliated youth wing Rashtrapremi Yuva Dal slipped into the RSS compound in Reshimbagh, Nagpur. Their mission: to hoist the Indian flag and make a point. The trio—Baba Mendhe (the group’s president), Ramesh Kalambe and Dilip Chattani—scaled the premises, unfurled the tricolour and shouted patriotic slogans. The RSS in‑charge, Sunil Kathle, tried to intervene, but the flag was already aloft.

Their act was framed as a protest against the organization’s historic reluctance to acknowledge the Constitution’s symbols. It also highlighted a lingering perception among some quarters that the RSS had never truly embraced independent India.

From Arrest to Release

Bombay police promptly registered charges of trespass and unlawful assembly. The three activists were taken into custody and, after a protracted legal battle, were convicted and sentenced to prison. They spent roughly eleven years behind bars—a period that spanned the very year the RSS finally raised the flag voluntarily.

In August 2013, a court discharged the trio, citing insufficient evidence to uphold the convictions. The decision effectively cleared them of criminal liability, though the episode left an indelible imprint on the public discourse surrounding the RSS’s relationship with the state.

Political Reverberations

The incident resurfaced whenever the RSS’s flag‑hoisting practices were debated. Critics seized on the 2001 stunt to question the organisation’s constitutional fidelity, while RSS loyalists countered that the pre‑2002 flag code had constrained private entities from displaying the national banner—a claim later debunked by fact‑checkers.

Since the 2002 voluntary hoisting, the RSS has periodically raised the tricolour on major national days, most recently on Independence Day 2022. Yet the memory of the 2001 protest endures as a reminder that symbols, however simple, can become flashpoints in the larger contest over ideology and legitimacy.

Takeaways

• A symbolic gap: Fifty‑two years passed between the RSS’s last official flag‑raising and its eventual compliance with the revised Flag Code.
• Activist intervention: Three young RSS affiliates forced the issue in 2001, resulting in a high‑profile legal saga that ended with their discharge in 2013.
• Political leverage: The episode continues to be invoked in debates about the RSS’s alignment with the Indian Constitution and its role within the governing coalition.

In the end, the flag that took half a century to fly over the RSS headquarters now flutters with a routine regularity—yet the story of its reluctant ascent remains a vivid illustration of how a piece of cloth can become a catalyst for political theatre.