When Indian Navy’s indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was being commissioned at Kochi on September 2, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled Navy’s new flag, which did not have the St. George’s Cross. The Indian Navy crest currently has a navy blue backdrop and an octagon that symbolizes the royal seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who with his vision developed a powerful navy to protect maritime borders.
In this backdrop, many social media users are sharing photos of the Indian Naval flag over the years with a caption claiming that while the BJP-led NDA government had removed St George cross Indian Naval flag, Congress brought it back, hinting that Congress doesn’t want to get rid of the colonial mindset.
The caption associated with the post reads, “On 15 August 2001, design of the Navy Flag was changed by Sh Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji and Cross was removed but in 2004 Sonia Gandhi again changed Indian Navy flag and added Saint George’s cross in Flag.”
The link to the post can be sent here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile did a fact-check and found the claim to be misleading.
On searching with appropriate keywords on Google, we found a report published by The Wire. According to the report, the ensign of the Indian Navy was first changed in 1950, three years post Independence. Along with St George’s Cross, named after a crusading Christian martyr who is Britain’s patron saint, the tri-colour and the country’s Ashoka lion emblem were added to it.
They further stated that on August 15, 2001, the IN’s crest, which prominently includes an Ashoka Lion atop an intricate anchor at its centre, replaced the George’s Cross in the ensign to divest it of its colonial background. This modification was made by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s BJP-led government. The Tricolour stayed where it had been placed.
Later, in response to complaints that its blue colour blended in with the sky and the waves, the naval ensign returned to its old design with the George Cross in 2004. The Tricolour remained as it had always been, with the sole modification being the addition of the Ashoka Lion emblem to the Cross’s centre.
According to a report by Rediff India Abroad published on April 24, 2004, the Indian Navy brought back the cross to the ensign with some Indian touches. The report further said, “Ever since the Navy made sweeping changes in its ensign and distinguishing flags and pendants of its officers, there was a complaint, especially from those who went out to the sea that the flags merged with the blue colour of the sea and the sky and were not visible from far. To overcome those shortcomings and to represent national symbols better, it is introducing a new flag, naval ensign and pendants from April 25, when INS Tarangini, the sail training ship that has been going around the world for almost a year, would return to India.”
The report further said that President APJ Abdul Kalam unveiled the new designs at Kochi when received INS Tarangini.
An unstarred question in Lok Sabha about the new ensigns and pendants was answered by Pranab Mukherjee. He said, “The new naval ensign, distinguishing flags and pendants have been introduced from April 25, 2004. The reason for the change was that the earlier flags had a blue and white colour combination which were not clearly visible from a distance, especially at sea.”
According to a website, Archive PMO, Manmohan Singh took oath as Prime Minister on May 22, 2004. Since, the ensign was changed before May 22, 2004, we can ascertain that the incident happened during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime.
Thus we can ascertain that the viral claim is misleading.
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