By: Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
Kudos to PM Narendra Modi Government for taking initiative of ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India’s independence. The Tiranga belongs to over a thousand million Indians who live in the country and abroad. The current Tiranga that we use was designed by Pingali Venkayya who was an Indian freedom fighter and is one of the unsung heroes of Indian freedom struggle. Our Tiranga represents the ideas, values and virtues of the citizens and the nation with which it moves forward. The sacrifices made and the struggles people went through are to be respected through “Har Ghar Tiranga” campaign. As an Indian don’t we feel proud to acknowledge the accomplishments and victories that we all have witnessed by staying united under this Tiranga?
The aim of this campaign is to make the relationship with the tricolor more personal than formal because the Tiranga is a symbol of free India that reminds us that we are all equal, irrespective of our religion, caste and creed. The Tiranga played a pivotal role in uniting people during India’s freedom struggle. Bhikaji Cama, also known as Madame Cama, was the first woman who successfully unfurled the first version of the tricolour Indian Tiranga. She still remains to be one of the most prominent woman personalities to participate in the Indian Nationalist Movement. There is no other country in the world as diverse as ours, and we must take pride in that. Unlike earlier when the use of our national Tiranga was limited, today national pride can be expressed in many ways and many civilians do so by the use of Tiranga in our cars, homes, clothes and homes.
The National Tiranga of India was adopted in its present form during the meeting of Constituent Assembly held on the 22nd July 1947, a few days before India’s independence from the British on 15th August, 1947. It served as the national Tiranga of the Dominion of India between 15th August 1947 and 26th January 1950 and that of the Republic of India thereafter. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru described it as ‘a Tiranga of freedom’ while moving the resolution on the Tiranga in the constituent assembly. And, for the first time in the long history of the nation, Indians could look up with pride and honour at their country’s Tiranga.
PM Modi has rightly appealed to citizens to strengthen the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ movement by hoisting or displaying the national Tiranga at homes between August 13th and 15th. The Indian National Tiranga represents the hopes and aspirations of the people of India. It is the symbol of our national pride. Over the last five decades, several people including members of armed forces have ungrudgingly laid down their lives to keep the tricolour flying in its full glory. In 1921, Gandhi proposed a tricoloured Tiranga with the symbol of the spinning wheel at its center. The colors of the Tiranga represented the dominant religions of the Indian subcontinent with clear message of promoting religious harmony. But growing demands for further modification led him to change the interpretations of the colors into something more secular. The lowermost strip of red represented sacrifice, middle green stripe represented hope and the topmost white stripe represented peace.
When we display the national Tiranga, we rise above our religion, political affiliation and the region we belong to. There is no doubt that the idea behind the initiative will certainly invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to promote awareness about the Indian National Tiranga. Let us all be encouraged to own it, love it, respect it and display it and salute to the leaders who brought us independence, and the Tiranga that will forever hold their legacy and our history intact. It is every Indian’s fundamental right to fly it with dignity and honour. (The author is a freelance writer, journalist, & cartoonist. He can be reached at dixitpatrakar@yahoo.in)
