How It Evolved Reflecting Indians’ Aspirations
The National Flag is an indispensable element of national festivals and celebrations because it symbolizes a free country. The national flag of India is a symbol of pride, unity and diversity that evokes patriotism in citizens.
The national flag of India, affectionately called the Tricolor or Tiranga because it contains three colours, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly in its current form on 22 July 1947.
When citizens journey to its origins, they can understand that the flag reflects the ever-changing desires of the people depending on the current social conditions in the nation.
The Flag of India was shaped at the beginning of the 20th century, when the country struggled for freedom and achieved it after a long struggle. The first version of the flag looked completely different from the one we know today. It had three stripes – orange (top), yellow and green (bottom) and in the middle (on yellow) was written in blue the slogan Vande Mataram (which means “Mother, I bow to you!”). This flag was hoisted in Calcutta’s Parsee Bagan Square on 7 August 1906. The orange stripe had eight half-open white lotuses representing the states. There was a white sun to the left of the green below and a white crescent above it. The star on the right. The first version of the flag, often called the Calcutta Flag or the first Swaraj Flag, was designed by Sachindra Prasad Bose and Hemchandra Kanungo to unite the various communities in the country and lead them towards a common goal: independence, yellow representing optimism and warmth, while lotuses represented the prosperity, growth and fertility of the land. for citizens to escape the clutches of British Colonial Rule.
Nearly 20 years later, in 1921, there was a revolutionary change in the flag when freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya designed the flag with only two colours: Saffron, representing Hindus, and Green, representing Muslims. He removed the yellow color and presented the new design to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. After several days of consideration, Gandhi felt the need to add white to the flag representing the rest of India, as well as the spinning wheel (charkha), symbolizing the independence and economic self-sufficiency of the Swadeshi movement. The spinning wheel represents the empowerment of Indians by producing their own khadi fabric, which aims to unite all communities in the country and motivate every Indian to fight for Independence.
In 1931, the tricolor was officially adopted for the freedom struggle. The Swaraj flag had saffron at the top, white in the middle and green at the bottom, with charkha in the middle, which is considered a symbol of growth, peace and courage. Inspired by the significance of this version of the flag, freedom fighters, Independence leaders and the public united for movements and marches for the liberation of the country from the British.
The current form of the Tricolor was officially adopted on July 22, 1947. The only change from the previous version is that the charkha has been replaced with the Ashok Chakra, adapted from Ashoka’s Lion Capital. Ashok Chakra has 24 evenly spaced filaments that represent progress and righteousness. The Tricolor was officially hoisted in Independent India on 15 August 1947. With the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022 as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the national flag has gained even more importance and has penetrated into every home. He encouraged citizens to raise flags at their homes.
The same Tricolor was also hoisted on Republic Day, which was celebrated for the first time on 26 January 1950, when the Constitution of India came into force. The 77th Republic Day celebrations are organized around the main theme of “150 Years of Vande Mataram”.
