A tribute to heroes
C. D. Verma remembers two national heroes — one who composed a famous patriotic song, and the other, who designed our National Flag

The names of two national heroes Shyam Lal Gupt of North India and P. Venkayya of South India come to mind as one gets set for the Independence Day. While Shyam Lal Gupt’s famous patriotic song, "Jhanda uncha rahe hamara" is sung even today during the flag-hoisting ceremony, P. Venkayya is remembered for designing our National Flag, the Tricolour.

Son of Kaushalya and Vishwesar Gupt, Shyam Lal Gupt was born in 1893 in Narwal village in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. After completing his studies, he started a monthly magazine Sachiv to express his patriotic and literary urge. Hereafter, he came in contact with Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi at whose instance, he joined the Congress. In 1920, he became president of the Fatehpur District Congress Committee. Following this, he joined the Indian National Movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi.

By that time, the Congress had designed and approved the Tricolour as the National Flag. What was needed now was a song that could inspire and stir the minds of the people of India. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, convinced of Shyam Lal’s literary acumen, entrusted this job to him. So enthused by patriotic fervour was Shyam Lal that he took just one night to compose the song. And thus was written the famous patriotic song Jhanda uncha rahe hamara`85. Shyam Lal Gupt told Vidyarthi that while writing the song he could imagine Bharat Mata sitting in front of him and inspiring him to write the song.

Vidyarthi handed over the song to Purushottam Dass Tandon, the, then, Congress president. On the directions of Mahatma Gandhi, the song was sung at the 1938 Haripur Congress Session. At this Congress Session, Subhas Chandra Bose had hoisted the National Flag. In 1967, Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, honoured Shyam Lal Gupt with a Tamra Patra at a function held at the Red Fort.

Our National Flag, the Tricolour, the symbol of our freedom and our pride owes its design to P. Venkayya, an Andhra Pradesh Congressman of Masulipatnam. Venkayya conceived the idea of the flag in 1918 and took three years to prepare a design. In 1921, when he presented the design of the National Flag to Mahatma Gandhi,`A0he did not approve of it. The father of the nation wanted the design and colour scheme that represented unity, non-violence and social harmony. Lala Hans Raj, a great revolutionary and former Principal of DAV College, Lahore, suggested that the flag should have the emblem of charkha or spinning wheel on it.

P. Venkayya then came up with another flag design with three stripes of red, green and white colours, with charkha covering all three bands.

Mahatma Gandhi approved it but changed the order of the colours: white on top, green in the middle and red down below. The white represented all faiths, peace and innocence, green represented the Muslims and red the Hindus.

The flag was hoisted at the`A01929 session of the Congress at Ahmedabad.`A0In 1931, the colour scheme was changed. Red was replaced by saffron on the top with white in the middle and green below it. The charkha was retained but was placed on a white strip. Gandhi opined that the Tricolour represented and reconciled all religions.

When India got freedom in 1947, the Tricolour was further modified. The charkha was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra.`A0Gandhi wanted to retain the Congress flag as the National Flag, for he thought, "Congress has been national from its very inception."

But that did not happen. Ashoka Chakra, the prototype of Charkha, was rightly chosen because Emperor Ashoka was an apostle of peace, a ruler who renounced power and became a monk. He believed in loksangraha, universal brotherhood, coming together of all people.

Colours of the Tricolour speak the language of all communities and regions of India. Saffron represents spirituality, green for fertility and white for peace and tranquillity. The Tricolour shone like a bright star through India’s fight for freedom. It has been hoisted, year after year, from the ramparts of the Red Fort as a symbol of national pride.