Our pride and boast - the national flag

shriniwas joshi

I was in Delhi recently and went to Connaught Place after a long time. I saw the National Flag fluttering at its Central Park (See Photo). I was emotionally charged and saw quite a few people taking its photograph. The 60-feet wide and 90-feet long flag is hoisted on a 207-feet long flag post. Navi Mumbai has the highest flagpole in India measuring 213-feet and Piedras Negras (Mexico) tops the world with 328-feet-and-1-inch high post.

In Himachal Pradesh, there are three places, Dalhousie, Kullu and Shimla, where the monumental flags hoist on posts of hundred feet. The highest is in Dalhousie that beats the other two posts of 100-feet by eight feet only. The concept of monumental flags which are gigantic has now been introduced in India and in December 2009, the Ministry of Home Affairs gave permission to fly these flags even at night provided appropriate illumination is there. Earlier, it was required that all flags should be lowered at dusk.

I was delighted to see a few young tourists from Punjab saluting the daintily swirling flag on the Ridge. The plaque attached to the flag on the Ridge in Shimla and worded by Raaja Bhasin reads: "The National Flag popularly called the Tricolour or 'Tiranga' embodies the spirit of India. This design was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on July 22, 1947."

Then there is an explanation of what the different colours and the Chakra mean and in conclusion it says, "Based on the design by Pingali Venkayya, Charkha, the spinning wheel, was replaced by Chakra." Pingali Venkayya, a Congressman from Andhra Pradesh, presented a flag to Gandhiji at Bezwada session of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1921.

It had two colours-red and green, representing the two major communities of India. It was not officially accepted by the INC but was hoisted in all its sessions. Then Hansraj of Jalandhar suggested the inclusion of Charkha in it and Gandhiji added a white strip representing other minority communities. Charkha was imprinted on this white strip. This flag was officially accepted by the INC in its session held at Karachi in 1931. How was Charkha replaced by Chakra in our National Flag?

The Ashok's Dharma Chakra signifying India's continual progress and growth with 24 spokes relating to 24 hours of the day on the flag for Free India was suggested to the Flag Committee by Badr-ud-Din HF Tyabji, ICS, a Deputy Secretary in the Constituent Assembly. At the behest of Dr Rajendra Prasad, the chairman of the Committee, he took advice of Gandhiji who wanted to see how the flag would look after this incorporation.

Then Suriya Badr-ud-Din Tyabji, wife of HF Tyabji, and an artist of repute, did a sample of the flag with Chakra replacing the Charkha. Gandhiji approved it and then the Flag Committee accepted it on July 17, 1947, and that very month on the 22nd, the Constituent Assembly approved it.

It surprised me to know that the first outdoor flag hoisting of Tiranga on August 15, 1947, took place in Canberra (Australia) in the complex of the residence of Sir Raghunath Paranjape, the High Commissioner of India in Australia three hours in advance of the first flag hoisting in India that took place at 10:30 am in the Council House, present Parliament House.

Do you know that it was Hansa Mehta, an educationist, orator and a freedom fighter from Gujarat, who along with 72 other women presented the National Flag to the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, Dr Rajendra Prasad, immediately after India became independent on the night of August 14-August 15? And she uttered the words, "It is in the fitness of things that the first flag of free-India that is to fly over this August House should be a gift from the women of India." And today, we are unwilling to give reservation to women in Parliament that they deservingly want. The contribution of Pingali Venkayya is that he initiated a flag for the INC which ultimately paved the way for our present day National Flag.