Jagan Urges PM To Give Pingali Venkaiah Bharat Ratna

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge him to confer the highest civilian award of the country, the Bharat Ratna, on the designer of the Indian flag Pingali Venkaiah, posthumously.

The CM made clear his belief that the award would be the most apt way to honour Venkaiah's contribution to designing the Indian flag.

Highlighting this in the letter, he reportedly wrote, "For far too long, India has failed to honour its son, Mr Pingali Venkaiah, who had given the country its first designs and specimens for a flag. The tricolour developed by him then went on to win the hearts of millions of Indians, and has today become a symbol of the Indian people's pride. In recognition of this great contribution to our motherland, I would urge you to honour Mr Venkaiah with the Bharat Ratna posthumously. The award will not only bring peace to his departed soul but will also fulfil an aspiration that has been harboured by the people of Andhra Pradesh, his native place, for many years."

Jagan also launched the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of India's independence by felicitating Venkaiah's family at their residence in Guntur district's Macherla. The visibly overwhelmed family expressed their happiness on the occasion.

(The theme of the Independence Day celebrations this year is 'Har Ghar Jhanda'.)

The CM's appeal is hardly surprising since Jhanda Venkaiah, as he is popularly known, holds a special place in the heart of the people of Andhra Pradesh. Born in a village near Machilipatnam, he was deeply influenced by the Gandhian ideology. Inspired by Gandhi's ideals, he devoted himself to the country's struggle for freedom.

Venkaiah presented thirty design ideas for the national flag in a book named 'A National Flag For India'. One of his designs, the tricolour we all know and love, was adopted as the Indian flag by the Constituent Assembly in July, 1947.