Pressure on govt to announce 'official Karnataka flag' on November 1 for Kannada Rajyotsava

'The current flag (with yellow/red colours) neither has an official recognition nor is legally backed. The issue has been raised since 2014 but the government hasn’t given adequate response', the advocate pursuing the case said.

Bengaluru: Activists and advocates on Wednesday urged the state government to announce the official Karnataka Flag on the occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava on November 1.

At a press conference held at the Press Club, Bhimappa Gadad, a social worker and an RTI activist from Belagavi, warned the government of protests if no action was taken.

“If the government doesn’t decide, our next step is to take it to the streets and take appropriate legal steps,” said Gadad.

Gadad was also the petitioner in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed at the Karnataka High Court seeking a separate state flag.

The court had dismissed the PIL and observed: “Grievances of such nature could hardly fall within the domain of the court’s jurisdiction, much less in the realm of public interest jurisdiction to be exercised by the court. The public interest petition is thoroughly misconceived and is dismissed.”

In the petition, Gadad stated that a nine-member expert committee was constituted based on his earlier representations, which favoured Karnataka having its flag. The cabinet also accepted this.

“It is disheartening to us that to seek the official Kannada flag, we had to approach the court,” Gadad told reporters on Wednesday. “It seems that the current government is anti-Kannada. We urge it to announce the official decision on November 1.”

Advocate Umapathi S, who had represented Gadad in the PIL, said that their request was longstanding.

“The current flag (with yellow/red colours) neither has an official recognition nor is legally backed. The issue has been raised since 2014 but the government hasn’t given adequate response. Then advocate general in 2015 gave a favourable report that such a decision won’t require the Centre’s nod and it was not prohibited under any act,” said Umapathi.

In 2018, the then Congress government led by CM Siddaramaiah unveiled the state flag for Karnataka following the recommendations of a nine-member committee: it was a yellow-white-red flag with the state emblem at the centre. The proposal was reportedly dropped in 2019 as the Centre hadn’t accorded its permission.