The Karnataka government’s decision to set up a panel “to design a separate state flag” has kicked up a row. Seeing it as a direct challenge to “India’s unity and integrity”, right-wing hyper-nationalists are trying to stop it. This, even though neither the Constitution nor any law expressly or obliquely prohibits a separate flag for a state. In fact, the Bommai judgment allows a state to have its own flag if it wills it. It is wrong that a separate flag should be linked to separatism or secessionism.
A high degree of autonomy or decentralisation of power is essential for the
