Key Points:
Over 50 school children fell ill after during 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
There were no facilities for the students during the rallies, that exposed them to heat and fell ill after being exhausted.
There were few statements from some political figures that sum up the whole campaign and the conditions the children were put through.
52 YEARS AGO, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) never took pride in hoisting their nation’s flag at their Nagpur headquarters after Independence. RSS works as an ideological figure for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but it was the BJP government that began these rallies that include Tiranga Yatras in the remembrance of India’s independence. The campaign began where students became part of the rallies, and over 50 children fell ill during the rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
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Due to being too exposed in the open under the sun’s harmful rays, children suffered from illness during the rallies. Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district recorded 12 children who fell ill on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, during the Tiranga Yatra. There were over 200 students from eight different schools. The event was organised in the Chitrangi assembly constituency of minister of state for agriculture and rural development Radha Singh. The students had to walk over six kilometers to reach the venue where they waited for nearly an hour in the heat for the minister. The students might’ve attended the Yatra voluntarily but they alleged that there were no proper arrangements for drinking water or snacks.
Students felt the heat taking over them slowly, some almost fainted while few girls blacked out. Reportedly, a girl felt difficulty in breathing. 12 students were taken straight to the Chitrangi Community Health Centre in auto-rickshaws by teachers. All of the admitted students were discharged after an hour. Medical officer of the block Harishankar Bais was behind their treatment. A student was given oxygen due to some pre-existing medical condition as told by the medical officer.
While in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria, 40 girl students were affected and were sent off to the hospital on Thursday, August 13, 2026. The case was the same as Madhya Pradesh. The students fell ill during the Tiranga Yatra which was organised by the district administration. The student’s complaints were clear as they have already exposed themselves in the heat too much. Some fell after reaching the venue, then were rushed to the Maharshi Devraha Baba Autonomous State Medical College. The students were discharged after a few hours by the officials.
There were few statements from some political figures that sum up the whole campaign and the conditions the children were put through. Deoria’s Chief Development Officer Rajesh Kumar Singh said there was no need to panic. Whereas District Magistrate Madhusudhan Hulgi had his own say on this matter, he said, “When we started in the morning, all the children participated with full energy. And in that excitement, they did not pay attention to drinking water and hydrating themselves. But I will not blame the children for this… There was a lot of heat today. Due to which such a situation arose.”
People expressed their frustrations, and the comments from the politicians stirred few criticisms. Since the beginning of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign, the political symbol around the Tiranga campaign grew in recent years. Bhagwa Dhwaj (Saffron Flag) was the symbol of RSS, they hoisted the tri-colour at the Nagpur Headquarters on August 15, 1947 and January 26, 2026, but stopped hoisting flag until January 26, 2002. The gap of 52 years has credited RSS members to restricting the display of the national flag before 2002.
The ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign questioned RSS’s record in 2022 that eventually made or forced them to change their social media profile pictures with the Indian flag and also assigned their workers to participate in the campaign. The uprising sense of patriotism inside the youth is being tested in the heat after such displays of celebrations around the Indian flag’s history.
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