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Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (India)

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 3 May 2008

Description of the flag
Flag variants

See also:

Description of the flag

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) is a political party in the state of Tamil Nadu, which was formed in 1994 by V.Gopalsamy (better known as Vaiko), formerly a prominent member of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam^[1]. The party flag is a red-black-red horizontal triband. The photo from online edition of Frontline magazine^[2] and photo gallery from online edition of Sangoli, official weekly magazine of the MDMK^[3], show flags with aspect ratio 2:3 and dark red colour. The party Web site^[4], on the other hand, shows images of flag with aspect ratio 1:2 and shade of red halfway between the FIAV colours R and R+. The same shade of red is also used at Sangoli web site for the magazine name at the page header, which is painted like the party flag^[3]. Just like the flag of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, from which it is obviously derived, it is possible that this flag was originally meant to have a lighter colour shade, which in practice eventually became darker. The prevailing aspect ratio may be determined from the photos, which all show a flag less oblong than 1:2.

Sources:
^[1]Wikipedia page about Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marumalarchi_Dravida_Munnetra_Kazhagam
^[2] Frontline magazine online edition - Issue 14, July 08 - 21, 2000: www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1714/17141290.htm
^[3] Sangoli online edition - photo gallery: www.sangoli.org/gallery.php
^[4] Web site of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam: www.mdmk.org.in

Tomislav Todorovic, 3 May 2008

Flag Variants

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2011

The 2:3 is the most used aspect ratio of the flag; more or less oblong flags - about 3:4 or 3:5 - also seem to appear sometimes along with these, but the flags which might have these ratios were not spread enough on the photos to verify them. If they exist, they are probably homemade variants. On the other hand, the flag with aspect ratio 1:1 can be seen often enough to be established as a distinctive variant.
Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2011

images by Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2011

The same is even much more true for several variants whose width is much greater than length, their aspect ratio being usually 2:1 or even 3:1. It is difficult to tell which of these variants appears more frequently and seems that none of them prevails. These flags are often used together with those with "ordinary" shape (i.e. length greater than width) in approximately even numbers and sometimes even seem to outnumber them, which clearly proves that they are regularly manufactured variants.
Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2011

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2011

Flags with this shape sometimes - not very often - also have the aspect ratio 3:2.

Sources:
[1] Party website - gallery of photos taken in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on 2009-03-21: http://mdmk.org.in/article/mar09/arpaattam-chennai-photos
[2] Party website - gallery of photos from a rally on 2009-04-10: http://mdmk.org.in/article/apr09/aarpaattam-photos
[3] Party website - gallery of photos taken in Viruthunagar, Tamil Nadu, on 2009-05-03: http://mdmk.org.in/article/may09/vaikos-election-tour
[4] Party website - gallery of photos taken in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, on 2009-12-10: http://mdmk.org.in/article/dec09/farmers-rally
[5] Party website - gallery of photos taken in Theni, Tamil Nadu, on 2009-12-30: http://mdmk.org.in/article/dec09/cumbum-agitation-0
[6] Party website - gallery of photos taken in Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai and Theni, Tamil Nadu, on 2010-02-11: http://mdmk.org.in/article/feb10/mullai-periyaar-agitation
[7] Party website - gallery of photos taken in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, on 2010-09-16: http://mdmk.org.in/article/sep10/kaanchi-conference-pics
[8] Chennai Television blog - article about Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam: http://www.chennaitvnews.com/2008/07/vicious-deserters.html

Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2011