Farmers from twenty states came together to make a national flag stitched entirely from non-Bt organic cotton as part of a campaign urging the government to end the dominance of genetically modified seeds in India. The symbolic flag, presented to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Independence Day, represented their call for seed sovereignty and protection of indigenous cotton varieties. The demonstrators demanded that multinational corporations like Monsanto withdraw from the Indian seed sector and that policies promote self-reliance through traditional and organic farming practices.