Sir — It is amusing that a lot of hue and cry gets registered by the elite and upper middle class whenever the tricolor is shown ‘disrespect’, but there are no protests about hunger, poverty, illiteracy and injustices that the impoverished are forced to suffer on a daily basis.
When so much tears are shed on viewing the discarded flags on streets; hardly do we hear or read people lamenting about the unfathomable plight of poor children languishing on streets or railway stations and toiling as child labourers.
When will the middle class and the Indian state wake up to the fact that national flag is merely the symbol of the nationIJ Rather, it is the common people who form the real nation.
The national flag, flying aloft the ramparts of the Red Fort, Government offices or academic institutions, might make a good sight, but only a hunger-less, literate society, enjoying basic human rights, dignity and justice, can form a truly prosperous and proud nation.