India orders universities to display large flags after protests

Record ID: 1377612

  • Title: India orders universities to display large flags after protests
  • Date: 19th February 2016
  • Summary: SURAJKUND, HARYANA, INDIA (FEBRUARY 18, 2016) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) EXTERIOR OF MEETING VENUE SIGN READING (English): "CONFERENCE OF VICE CHANCELLORS OF CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES" INDIA'S EDUCATION MINISTER, SMRITI IRANI, STEPPING OUT OF HER CAR AND WALKING INTO VENUE VARIOUS OF VICE CHANCELLORS OF UNIVERSITIES ARRIVING FOR MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (English) VICE CHANCELLOR OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY (EFLU), SUNAINA SINGH, SAYING: "The ninth resolution: at a central place in every university, the national flag will be flown prominently and proudly." IRANI COMING OUT OF VENUE, SPEAKING TO VICE CHANCELLORS NEW DELHI, INDIA (FEBRUARY 19, 2016) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) (SOUNDBITE) (English) A LEADER OF INDIA'S OPPOSITION CONGRESS PARTY, MANISH TEWARI, SAYING: "Well, the tricolour is respected by everybody and it should be flown on every public building and every private home but I do hope that the government would advise its progenitor Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh to once in a while fly the tricolour at their headquarters in Nagpur and at their other offices too." NEW DELHI, INDIA (FEBRUARY 19, 2016) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) VARIOUS OF INDIA'S NATIONAL FLAG FLYING ATOP SUPREME COURT
  • Embargoed: 4th March 2016 08:49
  • Keywords: nationalist student protests universities flags protests India
  • Location: SURAJKUND, HARYANA / NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • City: SURAJKUND, HARYANA / NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA001455MG5H
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING
    India's Hindu nationalist government on Thursday (February 18) ordered major universities to prominently display the country's flag at a time when it is struggling to contain the largest nationwide student protests in a quarter of a century.
    All 46 centrally-funded universities have agreed to display the flags after a meeting chaired by Education Minister Smriti Irani, the government said in a statement.
    The universities have been asked to install flag masts 207 feet tall - about the same height as the Statue of Liberty - to hoist the nation's tricolour flag, according to officials at India's education ministry.
    "The ninth resolution: at a central place in every university, the national flag will be flown prominently and proudly," India's Vice-Chancellor of English and Foreign Language University (EFLU), Sunaina Singh read out from the statement.
    The flag masts will be the same size as one installed in the centre of New Delhi two years ago. The flag, weighing 35 kilograms and 90 feet long, was the largest in India at the time.
    The decree follows angry demonstrations across university campuses this week after a student was arrested for sedition. Protesters accuse the government of attempting to muzzle free speech.
    Kanhaiya Kumar, head of the student union at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, was arrested after attending a rally to commemorate the anniversary of the execution of Kashmiri separatist last week.
    The student's detention under colonial-era laws, once used by British rulers to jail nationalist heroes such as Mahatma Gandhi, has exposed deep ideological differences about freedom of speech in India.
    The police and government say the student's jailing is right because his behaviour was anti-India.
    But his arrest has become a cause celebre among opposition parties who complain India is increasingly intolerant under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was elected in 2014.
    A leader of India's opposition Congress Party, Manish Tewari, said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) should consider hoisting the national flag atop its offices.
    "Well, the tricolour is respected by everybody and it should be flown on every public building and every private home but I do hope that the government would advise its progenitor Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh to once in a while fly the tricolour at their headquarters in Nagpur and at their other offices too."
    The largest student protests have taken place at Jawaharlal Nehru University, an institution that will have to display the new flag because it is centrally funded.
  • Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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