TNN, Jan 27, 2002, 11.16pm IST bangalore: the rss will hoist the national flag at its shakas every year from now onwards. the rss, which has set for itself the goal to induce nationalism in every citizen of the country, had till now not followed the national practice of hoisting the tricolour at its shakas every august 15 and january 26, except for a few exceptions. they, however, hoisted the tricolour on this republic day at its nagpur headquarters. rss national executive member k. suryanarayana rao told reporters at the samarasata sangam (social harmony meet) here on sunday that the rss did not biannually hoist the flag because till a few days ago, there were stringent rules restricting the hoisting of the flag only on government buildings.of the flag only on government buildings. ``now that the rules have been relaxed, we will also hoist the flag,'' he said. queried about the rss insistence that the national flag should be hoisted at the idgah maidan in hubli which led to communal tension there for three years in a row, rao claimed: ``the concerned maidan is a public ground, where they used to come and pray once a year. it does not belong to them and there is nothing wrong in insisting that the flag should be hoisted at a municipal maidan.'' rao said the rss had also been reluctant to hoist the flag at their shakas because the swayamsevaks wanted to participate in the general republic day and independence day functions with the mainstream. ``if we hold the function at the shakas, naturally all of them have to be present there and will miss out the functions at schools and offices,'' he pointed out. according to rao, the rss had earlier flown the national flag at all the shakas in the first year after the indian republic was formed in 1950. ``that year, the then chief m.s. golwalkar himself hoisted the flag at nagpur. last independence day, rss chief k.s. sudarshan hoisted the flag at udupi, while general secretary mohan g. bhagavath hoisted it at nagpur. it is wrong to say that this is the first year that the rss has flown the tricolour,'' he maintained, adding that the swayamsevaks carried the tricolour in all their agitations and fights.