It seems that the identity of the designer of the Indian tricolour will remain a mystery forever. The Union home minister has stated in response to an RTI query filed by this newspaper that the Constituent Assembly on July 22, 1947, adopted the Indian National Flag but doesn’t attribute the design of the national flag to any individual.
It has also been made clear that it has no information about whether the flag was designed by Pingli Venkayya of Andhra Pradesh or Suraiya Tayyabji, wife of a civil servant in New Delhi, whose names generally come up in this context, or any other person. The RTI query sought information regarding who designed the national flag and when.
DC Take: While on one hand there is a fierce debate going on in the country over nationalism, its symbols and various means to prove patriotism, on the other hand, basic information regarding one of the most important symbols of this debate — the Tricolour — is missing.
For long it has been observed that we do not sing our heroes. The country, of course, has every right to know afterall who designed the national flag. Come what may, there should be no ambiguity on this issue.
The right person must get his due. The government, believing in the adage better late than never, should immediately clear this confusion.
