Instead of Sympathies, Why Ulta Reaction?

For a country that has committed its fair share of mistakes - Vijay Mallya, just to name one off the top of the collective head - we are a bunch that quite often comes down too heavily on people making genuine errors, either of action or judgement.

This is a country that has a talent to forgive true mala fide action or inaction - the Emergency, just to name one off the top of the same collective head. But when it comes to a small fry caught committing a petty mistake, indignation, thy name is India!

This August 15, for instance, district magistrate of Bankura in West Bengal, K Radhika Iyer made a faux pas by hoisting the tricolour upside down. She was clearly no radical element registering a gesture against the Indian state. But the reaction has been vicious, a voluble mob wanting her punished for her 'seditious crime'.


Earlier, on Republic Day, Kerala minister Ahamed Devarkovil had also hoisted the tricolour ulta by mistake. The opposition demanded he resign for 'insulting the national flag'.

In international protocol, flying a (national) flag upside down is a distress signal. It can also mean protesting against the State or government. Since neither happens to be the intention behind Iyer's - or Devarkovil's - incorrect manner of displaying the national flag, why can't those baying for blood jut chill and unfurl some tut-tuts instead?