National flag
New Delhi: Today the country is celebrating National Flag Day. It was on 22 July 1947 that the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the national flag. It was a historic day as the adoption of the tricolour was an important step in India’s journey towards establishing itself as an independent nation free from colonial rule.
How was the tricolour proposed?
The Constituent Assembly met at 10 am in the Constitution Hall in New Delhi. This meeting was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad. The Constituent Assembly was meeting since December 9, 1946 and by then many topics had been discussed.
The chairman Dr Rajendra Prasad announced that the first motion on the agenda was about the flag by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Thereafter, India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru rose to move the motion and it was decided that the national flag of India shall have equal proportions of deep saffron (kesari), white and dark green. In the centre of the white stripe, there shall be a wheel in navy blue colour to represent the spinning wheel. The diameter of the wheel shall be approximately the width of the white stripe. The width and length ratio of the flag shall be generally 2:3. The motion was then adopted.
What did Nehru say in his speech?
Nehru had said that the present moment felt bright and warm. He said that he and others present in the House remember that they saw this flag not only with pride and enthusiasm, but it was also a boiling of our veins. Whenever we felt a little down, seeing this flag gave us the courage to move forward. Apart from this, he paid tribute to the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives.
Nehru said that we will face tremendous problems in the present and in the future, but he declared to applause that this moment represents the triumph and victorious conclusion of all our struggles. It is no small matter that the great and powerful empire which has represented imperialist domination in this country has decided to end its days here. That was the aim we aimed at. We have achieved that aim. He spoke of the need to free the country and the world from hunger, lack of clothing, lack of the necessities of life and lack of opportunity for development for every single human being in the country, man, woman and child, and declared that this is our aim.
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