Are there regulations in the Indian army on flying the national flag? In my 20 years, I didn't come across one that required hoisting the national flag.
In the recent past, social media has been hijacked by people who feel that universities that do not fly the flag are anti national.
Does flying the flag or hoisting it on special occasions directly correlate with greater loyalty to the country?
As a corollary, does it mean that if the flag is not hoisted by some people, they are disloyal and 'anti-national'?
Why is it that the Indian Army does not fly the national flag at the quarter guards (armory, as some others might call it) of units and its formation headquarters? Is the Indian Army anti national by the new definition that's being bandied about by proponents of this new brand of nationalism?
I have tried to delve deeper into it, but have not been able to find any documents on the subject among Indian Army's rules and regulations. But here's my theory (I may be wrong, but anyone with better inputs can add to this):
All armies needed a rallying point in battle, which used to be their commander (king) in the past, who would be visible in the battlefield to motivate soldiers fighting for him. Later, as battles became bigger and bigger in time and space, the king could not be everywhere, so a flag representing him (or country) would do.
Lets turn to the Indian army, which was created by the British East India Company to protect its interests. How could they rally their men in the numerous battles they fought? Their soldiers were natives, led by Englishmen (from an alien land with alien customs and ideas). How could they motivate these soldiers to be loyal to foreigners and fight against their own people? Later, during the first and second world wars, how could they motivate their men to fight and die for their cause (which most soldiers in the Indian army would not identify with)? The rallying point could not be the English flag! Imagine telling an Indian soldier in the East India Company or the British Indian army "You must be prepared to fight and die for the glory of the King (or Queen, who lives thousands of miles away, and will never come to this land) and country (England!)" in another alien land thousands of miles away from home! Would he identify with this cause? No.
Therefore, the regimental flag. "Fight for your clan, fight for your regiment, fight for your unit"
Because if they tried to tell this soldier to fight for country, a day would come when he could turn around and question the idea of country (India being part of England) itself, because the flag would be alien. And then he would not fight for England at all!
Even today, the Indian Army flies the regimental flag in units and formations, and holds regimental and unit 'Colours' in greatest esteem. But does the national flag figure anywhere? Not really. Nor is it disrespected, or disrespect implied in any action. It just does not figure in the soldier's consciousness. Its issued by ordnance depots and mostly kept in stores. And its hoisted on Independence day in some units (I hoisted it as CO). But the rallying point is still the regimental flag and Colours!
When I was commanding my unit near Baramula in Kashmir, we were manning a company operating base with a few outposts along the line of control with Pakistan. During my first visit to these posts, one thing stood out: all our posts flew a 'mandir' pennant, a 'pir baba' pennant and a 'gurudwara' pennant. I have found this phenomenon in many operational areas throughout my service, and I guess that in times of stress and difficulty,you turn to God, in whatever form he (or she) may be! So every post has a small 'place of worship' bunker that is adorned with the flags of all religions that the soldiers in that unit belong to, and these are visible on the other side. But on the other side of the Line of Control, I saw Pakistani posts flying only their national flag. You may say that they are a Muslim country and thus will have only one flag, but a national flag is very different from a religious pennant, even in Pakistan! So I ordered my posts to remove all kinds of pennants and issued them with the national flag, to be hoisted and lowered as given in the Flag Code of India.
Did I do this because I doubted my soldiers' loyalty to country? Did I think they were anti national? No.
I did this because:
They needed to know that whatever their religious orientation, when they faced the enemy, they were Indians.
Soldiers on the other side needed to know that they faced Indians, not Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. And I wanted my soldiers to understand that this is what we want everyone to know, even our 'enemy'.
