On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of India’s independence and the movement Har Ghar Tiranga for the raising of national flags across the country for 3 days, we invite you to discover history tirangaIndian tricolor.

The national flag of India was adopted in its current form at a meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on 22 July 1947, a few days before India’s independence on 15 August 1947. It became the national flag of the Indian Dominion between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950 and the Republic of India thereafter. In India, the termtiranga” (editor’s note: which means three colorslisten)) usually shows the national flag of India.

Indian national flag composition

The national flag of India is horizontal and consists of three colors in equal proportions:

• dark turmeric (kesari) at the top, indicating the strength and courage of the country,
• white in the middle indicates peace and truth with dharma chakra in the center,
• Dark green below indicates fertility, growth and luck of the soil.

that Dharma Chakra, a navy blue wheel with 24 spokes, symbolizing the “wheel of law” that appeared on the pillar capital of Ashoka, the 3rd century BC Mauryan emperor (editor’s note: the lion appearing on Ashoka’s pillar in Sarnath is a symbol of India). that chakra intends to show that there is life in motion and death in stagnation.

Indian National Flag Code

The use of the Indian national flag is governed by the Flag Code.

On 26 January 2002, the code of the Indian flag was changed and Indian citizens are now allowed to fly the flag over their homes, offices and factories on any day, not just public holidays as was the case before.

In December 2021, the code was modified again in celebration of India’s 75th anniversary of independence to allow for the manufacture of flags with materials other than cotton or silk.

First flag of India’s independence movement

According to the National Flag Foundation (Indian Foundation Flag), until the announcement of the first division of Bengal in 1905 by the British (editor’s note: this score only lasts 6 years), India has never had a national flag capable of representing it as a nation. There are flags of heroes and dynasties, rulers and warriors, but no flags of India, countries.

In 1906, on the anniversary of the anti-separation movement, the first three colors were unveiled on August 7, 1906, during a protest demonstration against the division of Bengal at Parsi Bagan Park in Calcutta. This flag came to be known as “kolkata flag“.“Vande Mataram” is written on Devanagari In the middle.

In 1907, Mrs Bhikaji Rustom Camaone of the important figures of the early Indian independence movement, delivered a speech on the political struggle against Britain at the 2nd International Socialist Congress in Germany and raised the flag.

Ten years later, during the movement”Indian House RulesInspired by the Irish independence movement, two movement leaders Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant designed the new flag.

Consisting of five red and four green horizontal stripes, it belongs in the upper left quadrant of the British Union flag, which signifies the status of power the movement seeks, in the upper right corner of the crescent and seven-pointed star. , both white and seven white stars arranged like in a constellation saptarishi (the constellation Ursa Major), which is sacred to Hindus.

According to Dr Arundhati Virmani, academic teacher at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales de Marseille and author of the book National Flag for India: Rituals, Nationalism and Political Sentiment, the first thought of a national flag dates back to the end of the First World War when India participated in League of Nations discussions as an independent actor with “its own voice” while still a colony. While all the other participants in the League of Nations have their flag, India has nothing to represent it.

The birth of Tiranga, the tricolor of India

In April 1921, Gandhi wrote in his diary Young Indian about the need to make an Indian flag.

A few years earlier in 1916-1917, Pingali Venkayya, an Indian from Andhra Pradesh, who had served in the British army and had traveled in particular to South Africa where he met Gandhi, prepared, upon his return to India, a brochure that brought together a dozen designs for the national flag. Most of the proposals contain religious symbols and contain the British Union Flag in the top corner. Despite his efforts to convince the Congress party, none of his cartoons were ever discussed within the party.

On several occasions, Pingali Venkayya approached Gandhi about the idea of ​​a national flag, but Gandhi looked for a symbol that could unite all Indians and evoke national feelings at the sight of the flag and according to him, no drawing by Pingali Venkayya did have this ability, said Dr. Arundhati Virmani.

“Finally, it was an educator from Punjab, Lala Hansraj who suggested an idea that would woo Gandhi: to include the charkha (spinning wheel) in the design of the national flag.he added. that charkha was the instrument that Gandhi had used and represented for him, autonomy and progress and a political instrument.

The original flag, which was later called “swaraj flag” white, green and red and contains charkha between. Gandhi interpreted color in the colonial tradition to assimilate color to non-traditional communities in India.

According to Dr. Arundhati Virmani, in the late 1920s, faced mounting criticism, especially from Sikhs who questioned why their colors were not part of the flag, Gandhi changed his interpretation and assigned qualitative symbolism to each color: red for sacrifices made by people, white for purity. and green for hope. The goal is to convince as many people as possible that this flag represents them and excludes anyone.

In 1931, “swaraj flag” in a modified version after the national polls became the official flag of the Congress party and would be the center of all demonstrations for Indian independence.

However, the flag was never a unanimously accepted symbol in India and as it has evolved, it has always generated reflection, debate and discussion, academics recall. In the 1920s, other political parties (besides the Indian National Congress) adopted their own flag, the Hindu nationalist movement RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) a saffron flag, the Communist Party, the workers’ red flag. Communist International…

The Indian national flag in its current version was handed over by Nehru to the Indian people on 22 July 1947 a few days before the country’s independence during the Constituent Assembly of the republic of India. According to Dr. Arundhati Virmani, on this day, the flag truly symbolizes the unity of the Indian nation and represents the ideals and values ​​of the struggle for independence for all.

Dr Arundhati Virmani teaches at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales de Marseille and is the author of the book National Flag for India: Rituals, Nationalism and Political Sentiment. In a discussion with media founder The Wire about India’s national flag, he said he was inspired by French historian Maurice Agulhon’s work on the symbols of the French republic for his book.