An unsung hero that India forgot to celebrate

On August 2, a freedom fighter was born who gave India one of its most enduring identities, the Tricolour. Pingali Venkayya was born in 1876 in a small town near Machilipatnam in present-day Andhra Pradesh. At the age of 19, Venkayya joined the British Indian Army and served in South Africa during the Second Boer War.

During his service, he strongly felt India too needed a national flag when he saw Indian soldiers were required to salute the Union Jack, the British flag. He was also opposed to the practice of hoisting the British flag at Congress meetings. Venkayya travelled across provinces, collecting soil samples. By 1916, he had published a booklet titled A National Flag for India, outlining designs and colours drawn from history and India’s ethos at the time.

The initial flag consisted of red and green stripes, representing Hindus and Muslims. When Venkayya presented his design to Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 during the latter’s visit to Vijayawada, Gandhi suggested him to add a white stripe to represent other communities. Later, a charkha (spinning wheel) was also added to represent a call for self-reliance. The Congress began using this flag at its meetings.

By 1930 as communal tensions emerged, it was felt that the flag should not have religious forbearance and simply reflect the ethos of the country. So, Venkayya redesigned the flag, replacing the red stripe with saffron. The white and green stripes were retained in the centre and bottom, respectively. The symbol of Gandhiji’s charkha was placed at the centre. The saffron came to represent strength and courage, the white band indicated peace, while green showed growth, fertility and prosperity. A resolution was passed in the Congress Committee to make this the official flag of India.

In 1947, the spinning wheel was replaced with the Ashoka Chakra, which is meant to represent the truth. Weeks before Independence on July 22, 1947, the Tricolour, in its current form, was formally adopted as India’s national flag.

Apart from his role in the freedom struggle, Venkayya was a lecturer, author, geologist, agriculturist and a polyglot. He even set up an educational institution in Machilipatnam. Venkayya was also nicknamed ‘Diamond Venkayya’ as he was an expert in diamond mining; and ‘Patti Venkayya’ because he dedicated a lot of his time in researching staple varieties of cotton. Despite his many contributions, he was largely unrecognised in his later years. Ironically, as the flag flew high, its designer faded into history. Venkayya died an unsung hero in poverty in 1963, long before his contribution was acknowledged. It was only recently that his story finally returned to the public eye. The Government of India issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honour in 2009. Even his hometown has been renamed Pingali Venkayya Nagar.

But even when no medals, no parades, no textbook chapters bore his name, the Tricolour remained his enduring legacy. His real memorial unfurls across the sky each year on August 15, every time the national anthem is sung and a child draws the flag in a classroom.

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