The flag-hoisting ceremony took place in the Patna Secretariat and not at the Gandhi Maidan. The four gates of the Secretariat were closed and soldiers with machine guns manned them. There were armed guards all around.

A few days ago, students of B N College had clashed with the state transport employees because one of them had refused to buy a bus ticket. A pitched battle ensued and in the subsequent police firing one of the students died. The student community in Patna took to the streets. The national flag was desecrated, students clashed with the police and black flag demonstrations took place in nearby towns as well.

The situation was getting out of hand, the atmosphere was tense. The students had demanded for the national flag to be flown at half mast. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru arrived in Patna on August 30 to address a rally at Gandhi Maidan, but the students would not allow it.

Hordes of students waved the black flag and shouted for the lowering of the national flag to mourn the death of a fellow student. With emotions running high, Nehru took the mike and said: “To take part in demonstrations and hooliganism in the name of politics is apart from the right or wrong of it, not proper for students of any country.”

But the students would not listen. They continued to shout. An angry Nehru then said what only he could: “Is jhande ko upar laane ke liye lakhon-karoron ne apni zindagi ki baazi laga di. Parwah nahin mujhe agar isko upar rakhne ke liye lakhon-karoron ki jaan aur jaaye. (It has taken the sacrifice of lakhs and crores of people to raise this flag up. I am not bothered if it takes the same sacrifice to keep it flying.)”

Silence descended. Nehru went on to deplore the police action, but he said he could not tolerate the violence and trampling of the national flag. “Is India a nation of immature, childish people.” He said no strong national indulges in throwing stones and behaving like hooligans. “Any fool can do that; violence cannot be part of democracy.”

August 1955, Patna

– As told to me by my father, who was then a 13-year-old growing up in Patna.