Confused Indians troll Priyanka Chopra for wearing flag - except she wasn't
Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. So said Oscar Wilde.
And the vicious lot lurking on the interent has once again found a reason to troll Priyanka Chopra over what she wears. Their pretext: "Show some patriotism" (although that was exactly what she was doing).
Last time she was trolled because she was wearing an “unsanskari” short skirt when she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This time, because she decided to show some patriotism. One would think that either instance would be celebrated by the supporters of the prime minister, but clearly that is not the case.
The 34-year-old star, who has made a name for herself both in Hollywood and Bollywood, found herself at the receiving end of vicious comments after she posted a photo of herself adorning a tricolour scarf on Instagram, with the caption, “Independence Day #Vibes #MyHeartBelongsToIndia #happyindependencedayindia #jaihind.” Of course, that is enough reason to troll a woman in this country.
Independence Day #Vibes ????????#MyHeartBelongsToIndia #happyindependencedayindia #jaihind
A post shared by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on
No one, of course, bothered to check if it was, in fact, the national flag that she was wearing – it was just a normal scarf coloured in saffron white and green.
“Hey show some respect to our country flag”, “Priyanka should apologise for this controversial post”, "Please don't return to India again", “she is disrespecting India to gain publicity” and “This is not your dupatta stupid, show some respect” read some of the uninformed comments.
Most people, it seems, are not really well-versed with the law.
According to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, “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 or the Constitution of India or any part thereof, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”
It should also be noted that using the Indian national flag as a portion of costume, uniform or accessory of any description which is worn below the waist of any person; or by embroidering or printing it on cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, undergarments or any dress material counts as disrespecting it.
But this wasn’t a flag. It was a scarf. In fact, hypernationalists seem to forget that their beloved Prime Minister Modi too has adorned a tricolour scarf in the past on International Yoga Day – although, he too seems to have broken no laws.
That did not stop a tiny amount of outrage and an ill-informed lawsuit. A man in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district filed a case against Modi for allegedly insulting the national flag, during the Yoga Day celebrations. Prakash Kumar alleged that Modi insulted the national flag by using the Tricolour as a mere piece of cloth, sitting on it and also using it to wipe his hands and face.
But that does not mean the honour of the national flag has never been publicly violated. In fact, a BJP member has been slightly complicit in it. The residents of Bisada village in Uttar Pradesh violated the Flag Code of India, 2002, by wrapping a national flag on the body of Ravin Sisodia, one of the accused in the Dadri lynching case. Sisodia along with 17 others was jailed for the murder of Mohammad Akhlaq and for injuring his son Danish over an alleged cow slaughter incident in 2015.
At the same spot they hd brutally killed Akhlaq last year,#Dadri vlgrs drape Tiranga on the coffin of hs murder accused & made him a martyr pic.twitter.com/ltNI6kGNzK
— Mohammad Ali (@hindureporter) October 6, 2016
Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma, who represents the Dadri area in the Lok Sabha, also paid his last respects to Sisodia; although in the photographs he tweeted of his visit, the body draped in the tricolour is not visible anywhere. Nonetheless, it is improbable that he did not witness it; and consequently took no action against it. The use of the national flag on Sisodia’s coffin is an insult according to the Flag Code of India, 2002, according to which, “the Flag shall not be used as a drapery in any form whatsoever except in state/military/central para-military forces funerals hereinafter provided”.
But it is too much to expect anyone to have given this perverse flouting of the law much attention, when soft targets like Bollywood actresses are available all around.