Cuttack: “We should mark 23 January as National Flag Day as it is the day we earned the right to display our national flag freely with respect and dignity,” said the president of Flag Foundation of India (FFoI) and chairman of Jindal Steel & Power (JSP) Naveen Jindal during his address to students at Ravenshaw University on the occasion of hoisting a monumental national flag on its campus.
“Most countries in the world have a National Flag Day to celebrate the national flag and its values. It is time for India to have a National Flag Day too and 23 January is an apt day for this,” he added. Jindal fought a decade-long legal struggle to grant every Indian the right to fly and display our National Flag with pride, dignity and honour.
On this day in 2004, the Supreme Court of India ruled that all Indians have the fundamental right to display the Indian flag freely with respect and dignity.
Jindal, along with mayor of Cuttack Municipal Corporation Subhash Singh, MLA Choudwar-Cuttack Souvic Biswal, CMC commissioner Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, vice chancellor of Ravenshaw University Dr. Sanjay Kumar Nayak and registrar of Ravenshaw University KC Malik, hoisted mammoth 36 ft x 24 ft Tiranga on a 108 ft high monumental flagpole installed by Flag Foundation of India (FFoI) at the historic Ravenshaw University campus in Cuttack.
“Installation of 108 ft. National Flag at this prestigious educational institution, with its rich history, will instil a sense of nationalism among the teachers and students,” Jindal said.
In his address, Subhash Singh expressed his appreciation for Shri Jindal’s significant contributions to the state’s development, mainly through substantial investments in industrialisation. Souvic Biswal commended Shri Jindal for his unwavering commitment to spreading the ideals of nationalism by installing monumental flags across India.
Taking a stroll through the University campus, Shri Jindal admired the British-era heritage academic buildings with gothic architecture and commended the government of Odisha and the University management for their commitment to preserve the monumental structures and creating an illustrious educational legacy of this renowned institute. He called for appropriate academic collaboration between OP Jindal Global University, the No.1 private University of India and the Ravenshaw University.
Professor of Political Science Dr. Asima Sahu, president of Ravenshaw University Teachers’ Association Dr. Dharmabrata Mohapatra, FFoI’s CEO Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashim Kohli, JSP’s president and Group Head (CSR & Education), Prashant Kumar Hota and other senior officials of the University were present on the occasion.
