Gota’s Flag: Desecrating The National Flag

By Hilmy Ahamed -April 25, 2015

Hilmy Ahamed

The racist discards of the Rajapaksa era have opened a new front in their chauvinistic march to create further ethnic turmoil in our nation by desecrating the National Flag. The protesters against the Sirisena government are now carrying a new National Flag that does not have the Orange and Green stripes that denote the minorities in the country. This was witnessed at the protests held both on Parliament Drive on 21^st April 2015 when Mahinda Rajapaksa was summoned by the Bribery Commission and the illegal protest in support of Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 23^rd April 2015outside the premises of the Bribery Commission. This flag was first seen in some protests against the Muslims and other minorities that were organized by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) during the Rajapaksa regime.

The Flag carried by the protesters

The following is the justification for the design of the National Flag as recorded in a number of Government sites: “The National Flag of Sri Lanka has been designed with great care and purpose. It not only represents the country and her heritage, but is a rallying device that integrates the minority races with the majority race”.

The lion flag lost its significance after the British invaded Sri Lanka in 1815. It was the Union Jack, which was hoisted in its place.

When Sri Lanka gained her independence from Great Britain on February 04, 1948, it was the lion flag, which was hoisted once again.

The first Prime Minister of independent Sri Lanka, D.S. Senanayake, appointed a committee to advice the government on the design of a new national flag. The design approved by the committee in February 1950 retained the symbol of the lion with the sword and the bo-leaves from the civil standard of the last king of Sri Lanka, with the inclusion of two vertical stripes green and orange in color. The orange stripe represents the Sri Lankan Tamils, the green stripe represents Sri Lankan Moors, and the maroon background represents the majority of Sinhalese:

Desecrating the National flag is a serious offence that warrants criminal prosecution. Wikipedia explains the desecration of the national flag as:

“Flag desecration is a term applied to the desecration of flags or flag protocol, a various set of acts that intentionally destroy, damage or mutilate a flag in public. Often, in case of a national flag, such action is intended to make a political point against a country or its policies. Some countries have laws forbidding methods of destruction (such as burning in public) or forbidding particular uses.”  Read More