Bengaluru: The present flag which Kannada activists often display during agitations, has an interesting history.
The man who suggested the flag, M. Ramamurthy was one of the pioneers of reorganisation of the state. Late Ramamurthy designed the flag in 1952 to promote the Kannada cause and to stress on the need for state reorganisation. His father Veerakesari Seetaram Shastri was a journalist and used to edit Veerakesari magazine dedicated to the Kannada cause.
On reading his father's editorials and articles, son Ramamurthy turned into an activist for the reorganisation of the state.
The Yellow (turmeric) and Red (vermillion) symbolise fertility. In Hindu tradition, when a woman visits a relative or a neighbour, the family offers turmeric and vermillion as a blessing (for womanhood) that she should be with her husband to have a happy, married life. Perhaps, Ramamurthy too thought of a state which should be fertile and developed. He along with noted novelist late A.N. Krishna Rao popularised the flag.
Former MLA and Kannada activist, Vatal Nagaraj was one of the followers of Ramamurthy. As per rules, the flag can be hoisted or unfurled during private functions and not in government offices or functions.
Long before the state was renamed as Karnataka in 1973, Ramamurthy died when land caved in on him at his farm at Talaghattapura on December 25, 1967. A statue of his can be found at Cottonpet in the city.
