Flag Satyagraha

Flag Satyagraha () is a term that describes campaigns of peaceful civil disobedience during the Indian independence movement that focused on exercising the right and freedom to hoist the nationalist flag and challenge the legitimacy of the British Raj in India through the defiance of laws prohibiting the hoisting of nationalist flags and restricting civil freedoms. Flag Satyagrahas were conducted most notably in the city of Nagpur in 1923 but also in many other parts of India.

Background

The hoisting of nationalist flags over private and public buildings (including sometimes government buildings) had been a common nationalist act of defiance, especially with the Revolutionary movement for Indian independence and the members of the revolutionary Gadar Party. Such acts of defiance gained currency across India with the rise of nationalist leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai.

The Flag Satyagraha was a term coined to describe the hoisting of the flag as a defiance against British-imposed restrictions on civil freedom and also the legitimacy of British rule in India altogether. Proliferating during the Non-cooperation movement (1920-1922) and a prominent element of the Salt Satyagraha (1930) and the Quit India movement (1942), this means of revolt combined the hoisting of the nationalist flag with the technique of Satyagraha — non-violent civil disobedience — as pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi. Nationalists were encouraged to...
Read More