BJP Leaders, Media Outlets Make Misleading Claims About Congress Reintroducing St. George Cross In Indian Navy Flag

At an event in Kochi on September 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new Naval Ensign for the Indian Navy. St. George on the previous flag was replaced with an octagonal shield inspired by the seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

On the occasion, PM Modi said that the sign of slavery on Indian Navy flags had been replaced with a new one inspired by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Within this context, BJP leaders and news channels blamed the UPA government for reintroducing the St. George Cross back to the Indian Navy Flag in 2004.

Claim:

India Today, in a program on August 30 2022, Managing Editor and Anchor of India Today and anchor Shiv Aroor said that the St George's Cross was removed from the Indian Navy's flag by Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government in 2001. The flag was included again in the Indian Navy's flag in 2004 under the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government.

Aaj Tak also ran a program on September 1, 2022. The news channel's consulting editor and anchor Sudhir Chaudhary claimed that St George's Cross was removed from the Indian Navy flag in 2001 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP government. However, when the UPA government came to power and Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, the St. George's Cross was brought back on the Indian Navy flag.

In a AajTak show 'Dangal' BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia while sharing a graphic claiming that the St. George's Cross was removed from the Indian Navy's flag during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2001. Chitra Tripathi questioned Congress spokesperson Alok Sharma and said that it is true that these changes were made from 2001 to 2004. But after the change of government in 2004, St. George's Cross was brought again.

BJP leader Tajinderpal Singh Bagga and BJP MP Tejasvi Surya tweeted the same claim.

Right-wing influencer Anshul Saxena also shared the same claim. However, he later deleted the tweet. Below you can see the screenshot of his tweet.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The changes that took place in 2001 and 2004 occurred during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh was not the Prime Minister.

We conducted a keyword search with relevant keywords within the year 2004. We came across this article on Rediff.com, titled 'Indian Navy to change its ensign', published on April 24, 2004.

As per this Rediff article, on 25 April 2004, St George's Cross was added back to the flag of the Indian Navy. The reason listed for this change in the article was the complaint of the Indian Navy which claimed that the blue colour of a new mark and the blue of the ocean and sky used to mix with the blue.

We conducted another keyword search with these terms and came across articles by The Hindu and Financial Express.

The Hindu article published on April 24, 2004, noted that the Navy said it had decided to dismiss the blue and white colour combination on the flag due to concerns of sailors and officers due to its low visibility on the high seas as it blended with the blue of the sky and the sea.

The Financial Express article, published on April 24, 2022, reiterated the same details as The Hindu article.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India on 25 April 2004. Dr Manmohan Singh took oath as the Prime Minister on 22 May 2004.

We then searched with the keywords 'naval ensign.' with the time set to 2001. We came across a 2001 archive document on the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India website.

As per the document dated August 8, 2021, even as India attained Independence, the Navy Crest and Flags were duly "Indianised", but the Ensign and Distinguishing Flags retained a touch of the British legacy, which is the Red St. George's Cross.

The document notes, "The desire for change in the ensign has thus been very strong amongst the rank of file of the Navy, for several years. With the dawn of the new millennium, it was decided to Indianise the very spirit of the Indian Navy by changing the Ensign and Distinguishing Flags."

The Navy set 15th August 2001 was kept as the target date for the change. The document also notes, "As in the case of the new Navy Ensign, the new distinguishing flags of senior officers will no longer display the Red St. George's Cross but in lieu will have the Navy Crest and the appropriate number of stars depicting the rank of the senior officer."

We also came across an article by The Wire published on September 2, 2022. The Wire article notes that on August 15, 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's BJP-led coalition government changed the ensign with the St. George Cross to divest it of its colonial past.

The changed ensign features an Ashoka Lion atop an elaborate anchor at its centre as the tri-colour remained in its original spot. After three years, in 2004, the naval ensign was changed back to its original design, included with the George Cross. The Wire article notes that the reason for this was the complaints that its blue colour was indistinguishable from that of the sky and the ocean.

We then conducted a keyword search for the responses provided by the Defense Ministry on the changing of ensigns. We found a response on the Rajya Sabha website answered on 14 July 2004.

The Rajya Sabha MP Eknath K. Thakur had enquired with the Defense Ministry whether the Indian Navy wanted to adorn its ships, submarines and installations with new flags, emblems and pendants and the reasons behind it.

Pranab Mukherjee, the then Defense Minister, responded that the naval ensign, distinguishing flags and pendants were introduced on 25th April 2004. He stated that the reason for the change was that the earlier flags had a blue and white colour combination which was not clearly visible from a distance, especially at sea.

Conclusion:

We noted that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India on 25 April 2004 and Dr Manmohan Singh took oath as the Prime Minister on 22 May 2004. On 25 April 2004, St George's Cross was added back to the flag of the Indian Navy. The reason listed for this change in the article was the complaint of the Indian Navy which claimed that the blue colour of a new mark and the blue of the ocean and sky used to mix with the blue.

The changes that took place in 2001 and 2004 occurred during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh was not the Prime Minister. Thus, we can ascertain that the claim of the flag is misleading.

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