Pingali Venkayya: Remembering the man who designed Indian Tricolour, on his 140th birthday

Pingali Venkayya, a fervent freedom fighter and the man who designed the Indian national flag, was born on 2 August, 1876. Venkayya joined the British Indian Army at the age of 19 and took part in the Anglo-Boer war in Africa. It was during the war that Venkayya met Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and formed an association which would last for more than 50 years. [caption id=“attachment_2930628” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pingali Venkayya and the Indian Tricolour. Twitter[/caption] Conception of the tricolour On 31 March, 1921 at the Kakinada conference of the Indian National Congress, Venkayya conceived the idea of a national flag. MK Gandhi added the white stripe to Venkayya’s saffron and green flag while Arya Samaj movement founder Lala Hansraj contributed the Dharm Chakra ( wheel of law). The present tricolour was adopted  just days before India’s independence, on 22 July, 1947 at a meeting of the Constituent Assembly. Venkayya died on 4 July, 1963 in Vijayawada. On Tuesday, Twitterati showered  the Gandhian with their tributes.