PM signed memento, not national flag, clarifies govt.
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gesture of signing the national tricolour for chef Vikas Khanna in appreciation for the menu prepared at the Waldorf Astoria for his high-profile dinner with Fortune 500 CEOs in New York has attracted adverse attention back home but the government strongly denied it.
Even as the Congress maintained that it respects the office of the Prime Minister, spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: “However high you may be, the National Flag is above you, you should understand this”. Apparently, the piece of cloth has an artistic work of handicraft prepared by a differently-abled girl and was signed by Modi when she met him along with celebrity chef Vikas Khanna. As the chef displayed the signed piece of cloth to the media, social media was abuzz with criticism and opposition Congress latched on to it.
Government spokesman Frank Noronha denied that the Prime Minister had signed on the national flag and said it had not been confiscated as reported. Noronha, Director General (Media and Communication), Press Information Bureau, said in New Delhi that the piece of cloth was a work of handicraft prepared by a differently-abled girl and the Prime Minister had autographed it on compassionate basis.
“The piece of cloth does not have white colour nor the wheel….It has been prepared by the girl with her toe and the Prime Minister was compassionate,” he said. He termed as “absolutely false” that it had been confiscated.
However, the Congress spokesperson said that it is for the Prime Minister to look within and take corrective action as respect for the National Flag is the responsibility of 125 crore people, more so that of the Prime Minister. Modi with his act of affixing his autograph on the national Tricolour also attracted the provisions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2003) that states: “Whoever in any public place or in any other place within public view burns, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon or otherwise shows disrespect to
or brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written, or by acts) the Indian National Flag… shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both”.
However, Surjewala clarified that the Congress has no intention of taking any steps to invoke this provision against the Prime Minister. “We are not petty like the BJP. We respect the office of the Prime Minister, but would request him with
folded hands not to insult the Tricolour in any fashion,” he added. Chef Khanna was expected to gift the autographed Tricolour to US President Barack Obama, but the flag was taken away by officials after the controversy erupted to check whether there was any violation of the flag code.
