The Karnataka Khadi Gramodyog Samyukta Sangh, the country’s sole manufacturer of khadi Tricolours with a Bureau of Indian Standards certificate, is ruing an opportunity lost to a couple of central government decisions.

One, “we could have ramped up production of the Tricolours, thus providing more employment to workers, had we been told about the idea a year ago”, Samyukta Sangh secretary Shivananda Mathapati told The Telegraph on Saturday.

The “idea” he was referring to is the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, launched officially by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 22 requesting people to hoist the national flag atop their homes from August 13 to 15.

The campaign has caused a nationwide spike in the demand for the Tricolour, but the absence of advance notice means the Samyukta Sangh, and its armies of yarn spinners, weavers and tailors, have failed to capitalise.

The second government decision the Samyukta Sangh has an issue with is the amendment of the Flag Code to allow Tricolours to be made with machine-made polyester, Indian or imported, instead of only hand-spun and hand-woven (khadi) cotton, silk and wool.

Government sources have defended the amendment, which was made on December 30, 2021, but became public knowledge only last month, saying it had been done to meet the expected increase in demand following the Har Ghar campaign. The implication seems to be that the Samyukta Sangh had never been part of the Centre’s Har Ghar plans.

Mathapati said the hastily made polyester Tricolours that have flooded the market are blighted by errors, from incorrect length-breadth ratio to wrongly placed Ashok Chakras — a point that CPI member P. Sandosh Kumar raised in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The Congress, which supports the Samyukta Sangh’s stand, has alleged the polyester flags violate the spirit of the freedom movement. It has said the amendment will boost imports from China and help one of Modi’s capitalist friends whose firm manufactures polyester.

Government sources say they expect around 20 crore flags to be sold in the run-up to August 15, the 75th anniversary of Independence that the government is celebrating as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Mathapati said the Hubli-based Samyukta Sangh normally makes 80,000 national flags before each Independence Day but would have had no problem increasing its production drastically had it been forewarned about the campaign.

The Samyukta Sangh oversees the entire khadi sector in Karnataka, which employs more than 45,000 workers, 95 per cent of them women.

Mathapati said the organisation was now hiking production belatedly, “making a few thousands more ahead of Independence Day”.

Karnataka’s khadi sector observed a one-day, tool-down strike on July 27 to press its demand to scrap the amendment to the Flag Code.

The Samyukta Sangh plans a wider agitation and a petition to the Supreme Court against the amendment but, Mathapati said, a final decision can be taken only after Independence Day.

Till then, the khadi units will be busy making as many Tricolours as they can. “We don’t want the production of flags to be affected since there is a huge demand,” Mathapati said.

Flag flaws

Mathapati said the “cheap” polyester Tricolours being sold “are merely banners”.

“They do not follow the prescribed 3:2 ratio (of length to breadth) in the Flag Code. Often, the Ashok Chakra is placed not in the middle but to one side,” he said.

Another of his complaints is that the polyester flags “are printed on white fabric”.

Section 1.1 of the Flag Code, which has not been amended, states: “The national flag shall be a tri-colour panel made up of three rectangular panels or sub-panels of equal widths.”

Mathapati said this means that three separate panels of saffron, white and green cloth have to be stitched together to make the Tricolour. “But the polyester flags in the market are printed on white fabric.”

Sandosh Kumar had, in a special mention in the Upper House, urged the government to immediately withdraw the amendment to the Flag Code.

“It is most unfortunate that, on the one side the government gives sermons on atmanirbhar and on the other side encourages import of flags from other countries,” he said.

Echoing Mathapati, Kumar said: “If the government had given the orders to manufacture khadi flags in advance, these (khadi) units (would have been) able to increase their production as well as profit.”

Rahul Gandhi tries his hands at screen printing the Ashok Chakra on the national flag.

Kumar stressed the significance of khadi flags, saying “like our national flag, khadi too symbolises the struggle against imperialism”.

Mathapati said the government’s policy would hurt the khadi sector.

“Khadi provides livelihood to lakhs of families. The government should know that khadi is a passion for many and a reminder of the freedom struggle,” he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited a khadi unit in Hubli on Wednesday and “promised all support to the khadi industry and expressed happiness at the quality of our products”, Mathapati said.

Even some Sangh parivar outfits have come out against the amendment to the Flag Code.

Pramod Muthalik, president of the Sree Ram Sena, a Hindutva organisation based in Karnataka, held up a few defective polyester flags at a news conference recently.

“Is this patriotism?” he asked. “These flags have poor finishing and do not follow the prescribed dimensions. Even the Chakra is misplaced towards one side and it’s not even a proper circle.”

He added: “Should our national flag be flown in this condition? Don’t these BJP leaders have any self-respect?”