Jagan writes to Centre, seeks Bharat Ratna for Andhra man who designed tricolour | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Jagan writes to Centre, seeks Bharat Ratna for Andhra man who designed tricolour

Mar 12, 2021 06:11 PM IST

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister said honouring late Venkaiah with the Bharat Ratna would be a matter of pride for every Indian on the occasion of the 75th Indian Independence Day celebrations.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister and YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday appealed to the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country, on Pingali Venkaiah, a prominent freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh who had designed the national flag.

On Friday morning, Jagan went to the residence of Venkaiah at Macherla in Guntur district and felicitated the freedom fighter’s daughter Ghantasala Seetha Mahalakshmi and other family members. (HT PHOTO)
On Friday morning, Jagan went to the residence of Venkaiah at Macherla in Guntur district and felicitated the freedom fighter’s daughter Ghantasala Seetha Mahalakshmi and other family members. (HT PHOTO)

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister said honouring late Venkaiah with the Bharat Ratna would be a matter of pride for every Indian on the occasion of the 75th Indian Independence Day celebrations.

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On Friday morning, Jagan went to the residence of Venkaiah at Macherla in Guntur district and felicitated the freedom fighter’s daughter Ghantasala Seetha Mahalakshmi and other family members. He also garlanded the portrait of Venkaiah and paid tribute to him.

Appreciating the Prime Minister’s decision to celebrate Azadi ki Amrut Mahotsav programme to mark 75 years of Independence, the Andhra CM recalled that during the first meeting of the national committee held on March 8, “Har Ghar Jhanda” had been selected as one of the key themes for the celebrations.

“A call will be given to every citizen to hoist the National Flag in their house on August 15, 2021 and become part of the festivities. In this context, I would like to draw your attention towards the immense contribution made by Pingali Venkaiah in designing the Indian National Flag,” he said.

He recalled that Venkaiah, also known as Jhanda Venkaiah was born on August 2, 1876 at Bhatlapenumarru village near Machalipatnam and was deeply influenced by Gandhian thoughts and ideology. “He worked on various designs of the national flag and on March 31, 1921 in Vijayawada, he gifted his designs to Mahatma Gandhi, who mentioned Venkaiah’s efforts in his journal Young India,” Jagan said.

The chief minister said Venkaiah’s design of the tricolour was adopted as the national flag of free India by the Constituent Assembly on July 22, 1947. “Thus, Venkaiah was credited as the architect or designer of the Indian National Flag. The flag designed by him came to be synonymous with the spirit of free and independent India. However, his life and works largely remain unrecognised and he breathed his last on July 4, 1963,” he said.

Jagan requested that as the nation was celebrating 75 years of Independence, the Centre recognise Venkaiah’s contribution to the nation and confer him with the Bharat Ratna (posthumously).



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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Srinivasa Rao is Senior Assistant Editor based out of Hyderabad covering developments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana . He has over three decades of reporting experience.

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