Pawan Khera, who heads the Congress media and publicity department, shared an image of Modi on X and questioned the sequence in which the colours were displayed. He joked that the Prime Minister appeared to have worn the Tricolour “in Urdu”, a reference to the language being written from right to left, before asking whether he was celebrating Ireland’s Independence Day instead of that of India.
The jibe centred on three folds of material visible from the breast pocket of Modi’s brown sleeveless jacket. Depending on the viewing angle, the arrangement presented green, white and saffron prominently, rather than the saffron-white-green horizontal sequence associated with the national flag. Congress leaders argued that the visual effect brought the Irish flag to mind.
Supriya Shrinate, another senior Congress spokesperson, joined the criticism, questioning the styling of the colours and describing the arrangement as appearing upside down. Her intervention helped push what began as an observation about clothing into a wider social-media argument over patriotic symbols and whether political significance should be attached to the pocket-square design.
The comparison has limits. Modi was not wearing the national flag itself. The pocket arrangement consisted of coloured fabric and did not contain the navy-blue Ashoka Chakra that appears at the centre of the white band of the national flag. Supporters of the Prime Minister argued online that the folds were clearly intended as a decorative representation of the national colours and that treating their positioning as a flag-code controversy overstated the issue.
Modi wore the pocket squares with an off-white kurta-pyjama, a chocolate-brown sleeveless jacket and a deep-red Bandhani-style safa featuring white and yellow patterns. The turban had a long trailing end over his shoulder, continuing his practice of using distinctive traditional headgear during Independence Day ceremonies.
The Prime Minister delivered his 13th consecutive Independence Day address from the Red Fort on Saturday as the country marked its 80th Independence Day. This year’s official celebrations highlighted “Yuva Shakti for Viksit Bharat@2047” and commemorated 150 years of Vande Mataram. The national song was incorporated into the Red Fort ceremony as part of the anniversary observance.
Modi’s speech, lasting about 75 minutes, ranged well beyond the ceremonial setting. He outlined a development programme linked to the government’s goal of achieving a developed economy by 2047 and placed particular emphasis on young people. He announced plans to provide artificial-intelligence skills training to one crore youth over a year and proposed free online coaching aimed at candidates preparing for competitive examinations.
The address also covered self-reliance, manufacturing, energy security, civil defence and semiconductor production. Modi presented a seven-part development approach associated with the Viksit Bharat programme and said the country needed to pursue larger economic and technological ambitions rather than incremental gains.
Political disagreement extended beyond his clothing. Congress leaders challenged Modi’s warning about what he described as “dimaagi Naxals”, or ideological Naxals, arguing that such terminology risked being used against dissenting voices. The government’s supporters portrayed the warning as part of a wider security argument following the weakening of armed Maoist groups in several regions.
Modi’s Independence Day clothing has itself become an established part of the political imagery surrounding the annual Red Fort ceremony. Since his first address as prime minister in 2014, he has appeared in brightly coloured turbans and regional tie-and-dye styles, including bandhej, Bandhani and leheriya designs. The choices have often highlighted textile traditions associated with Rajasthan and Gujarat.
(IPA Service)
