AP CM Jagan Reddy seeks Bharat Ratna for Tricolour’s designer

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday appealed to the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country, on Pingali Venkaiah, a prominent freedom fighter from the state who designed the Indian national tricolour. He also felicitated Ghantasala Sitamahalakshmi, daughter of late Venkaiah, marking the inauguration of the 75-week-long "Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav" in the state on Friday. Jagan visited the freedom fighter’s residence at Macherla in Guntur district and felicitated his daughter Ghantasala Seetha Mahalakshmi and other family members. He also garlanded a portrait of Venkaiah.

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy presented Rs 75 lakh to Sitamahalakshmi and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that the Centre confer the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna on Venkaiah posthumously. Pingali Venkaiah, from Krishna district, designed the National Flag and presented it to Mahatma Gandhi during his visit to Vijayawada city on April 1, 1921. On July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted the flag designed by Pingali Venkaiah as the National Tricolour. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the YSRCP president said "The flag designed by him came to be synonymous with the spirit of free and independent India. However, his life and works largely remain unrecognised," “A call will be given to every citizen to hoist the national flag in their house on August 15 next year as part of the festivities. In this context, I would like to draw your attention towards the immense contribution made by Pingali Venkaiah in designing the Indian national flag,” the letter read.  Pingali Venkaiah  breathed his last on July 4, 1963.

The freedom fighter, also known as Jhanda Venkaiah, was born on August 2, 1876 in Bhatlapenumarru village near Machalipatnam and was deeply influenced by Gandhian thoughts and ideology, Reddy said. “He worked on various designs of the national flag and on March 31, 1921, in Vijayawada, he gifted them to Mahatma Gandhi who mentioned Venkaiah’s efforts in his journal Young India,” he added.