NATIONAL FLAG DAY
On 22 July in 1947, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the National Flag. It was a red-letter day in our history, and the tricolour’s adoption marked a pivotal moment in India’s journey towards establishing itself as an independent nation free from colonial rule.
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY?
According to the official record of the proceedings, the Constituent Assembly met in the
Constituent Hall in New Delhi at 10 o’clock, with Dr Rajendra Prasad in the Chair. The
Constituent Assembly had been meeting since December 9, 1946, and had by then
discussed a range of subjects.
The Chair announced that the first item on the agenda was “a Motion by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru about the Flag”.
At the end of the day, the record says, “The motion was adopted, the whole Assembly
standing.”
THE MOTION
Thereafter, India’s first Prime Minister rose to move the following Resolution:
- “Resolved that the National Flag of India shall be horizontal tricolour of deep Saffron (Kesari), white and dark green in equal proportion. In the centre of the white band, there shall be a Wheel in navy blue to represent the
- The design of the Wheel shall be that of the Wheel (Chakra) which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Asoka.
- “The diameter of the Wheel shall approximate to the width of the white band.
- “The ratio of the width to the length of the Flag shall ordinarily be 2:3.”
WHAT DID NEHRU SAY ABOUT THE FLAG?
The Flag defined by the Resolution, Nehru said, “was adopted, not by a formal resolution, but by popular acclaim and usage, adopted much more by the sacrifice that surrounded it in the past few decades”, and that the Constituent Assembly was “in a sense only ratifying that popular adoption”.
IS THE FLAG REPRESENTING COMMUNAL GROUPS IN INDIA?
He clarified that the Flag must not be thought of in communal terms, and that when the Flag was devised, there was no communal significance attached to it.
“We thought of a design for a Flag which was beautiful, because the symbol of a nation must be beautiful to look at. We thought of a Flag which would in its combination and in its separate parts would somehow represent the spirit of the nation, the tradition of the nation, that mixed spirit and tradition which has grown up through thousands of years in India. So, we devised this Flag
FLAGS OF INDIA OVER THE YEARS
PREVIOUS FLAG V/S THE NEW FLAG
- Although the Flag was different in some respects from the one used earlier, its “colours are the same” Nehru said, “a deep saffron, a white and a dark green”.
- The Charkha, which symbolised the common man in India, had been “slightly varied” — the practical reason being that “the symbol on one side of the Flag should be exactly the same as on the other side”.
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- “The Charkha, as it appeared previously on this Flag, had the wheel on one side and the spindle on the other [and on] the other side the spindle comes the other way and the wheel comes this way”.
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