India at 75: How did India adopt the Tricolour as its national flag?

Tricolour has evolved over several decades. The Indian flag is said to have been designed for the first time by Sister Nivedita; however, its present form was designed by Pingali Venkayya

A national flag is a symbol of the sovereignty and independence of a country. Indians have always held the Tricolour in high esteem. It played an important role not only in the freedom struggle but even in the post-independence wars, including the Indo-China war and the Kargil War. 

To honour the Tricolour on the 75th Independence day, the Indian government has decided to organise the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign under 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mohatsav'. Between August 13 and 15, 200 million will be hoisted atop schools, offices and even houses across the nation. 

How was the Tricolour chosen as India's national flag?

The 'Tiranga' evolved over several decades to finally look like it does now. The Indian flag is said to have been designed for the first time by Sister Nivedita, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, in 1904. The flag was made up of two colours, red and yellow. It had a 'Vajra' in the centre, considered to be the weapon of Lord Vishnu. 'Vande Mataram' was written in the Bengali language on either side of the flag. 

In 1906, another design of the flag was seen at the Parsee Bagan in Kolkata. On August 7, 1906, India's national flag was hoisted for the first time at what is now called Girish Park in Kolkata. It had three equal stripes of green, yellow and red. The green strip was located on the top, with eight lotus flowers, half-opened painted on it. 'Vande Mataram' was written in the Devnagri script on the middle, yellow strip. 

The flag also had a crescent moon and sun painted on the red strip. 

In the same year, the famous Cama flag was designed by Bhikaji Cama, Veer Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Kumar. It also had three stripes, but the colours were different. 

The first strip was saffron, the second yellow, and the third one was green. Eight small suns replaced the lotus. 'Vande Mataram' was written on the middle, yellow strip. 

This flag was hoisted for the first time internationally. At the Berlin Committee, a socialist conference in Berlin, Bhikaji Cama unfurled the flag and marked a monumental moment in India's freedom struggle. 

The next version of the flag was designed by Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1917. Both the leaders had launched the Home Rule Movement, and they used the flag extensively during the meetings and protests. This flag had five red and four green stripes, alternately. The Saptarishi, or the seven stars, were printed on the flag. It also carried the Union Jack, Britain's national flag, on the top left corner. Opposite the union jack, on the top right corner, a crescent and a star were also printed. 

However, by this time, Mahatama Gandhi had entered the Indian freedom struggle. 

In 1921, while travelling to Vijayawada, Gandhi met a young man, Pingali Venkayya. He had designed a flag and wanted Gandhi to look at it. The flag had two colours, red and green, depicting two major religious communities in the country. 

Gandhi asked Venkayya to insert a white strip into the flag to represent all the other religions. The spinning wheel or 'Charka' was also added to the flag's centre at Gandhi's request. Charkha became a major part of Gandhi's struggle for India's independence. The emergence of khadi was seen as an attack against Britain's economic drain on India. 

In 1931, Congress had recently adopted a 'Purna Swaraj' resolution at the Lahore Session. It was decided that January 26 would be celebrated as Independence day every year. The flag was redesigned by Venkayya. Red was replaced by saffron colour, and it was placed on the top of the flag. The white strip was placed in the middle and green at the bottom. Gandhi's 'charkha' was placed inside the white strip. 

The Congress committee adopted it as the official flag of India. It was even used by Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army (INA). 

Finally, on July 22, 1947, just days before India became independent on August 15, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted the present form of the Tricolour. The spinning wheel was replaced by Ashok's 'Dharma Chakra', with 24 spokes. It is the flag we so proudly look at today.