Senior Congress Leader V Hanumantha Rao today said that the Congress would hoist the national flag at the Vijayawada-based Gymakhana grounds on April 1 to mark the hundred-year anniversary of the national flag declaration day. He requested national party President Sonia Gandhi to unfurl the tricolour on the occasion.
"During India's struggle for freedom, Mahatma Gandhi had unfurled the Indian flag at the Gymkhana Grounds in Vijayawada on April 1, 1921, for the very first time during the AICC conference held in the city. We must celebrate the centenary of that momentous occasion in our nation's history. I would urge Ms Gandhi to instruct all the Pradesh Congress Committees to organise an 'Indian Flag Festival' to mark the occasion. It is important to do so to counter the BJP's version of nationalism. It is shameful that while Prime Minister Modi honours the poet who penned the national anthem, he has completely no interest in organising any celebrations for April 1. Both he and our Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao have also forgotten the designer of the Indian flag, Pingali Venkaiah. The Congress however will honour this great son of India," VHR said.
He added that APCC President Sake Sailajanath and former MP G V Harsha Kumar would also take part in the event.
The veteran leader's emphasis on honouring Pingali Venkaiah is similar to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's desire to do so. Some days ago, the young CM even
wrote a letter to PM Modi to urge him to confer the highest civilian award of the country, the Bharat Ratna, on the designer of the Indian flag.