In the year 1921, Gandhiji asked a person from Andhra Pradesh to design the Indian flag. His name was Pingali Venkayya. He was no ordinary person. He was an authority on many subjects with doctorates in agriculture and geology. He was also an expert on diamonds, for which he was popularly called “Diamond Venkayya”.
Venkayya designed this flag of 3 colours, white on the top, green in the center and Saffron at the bottom, with a Charka, a spinning wheel in the middle. It was popularly known as the Charka Flag.
This Swaraj Flag was first hoisted on December 31, 1929, at the Lahore Congress Session on the banks of River Ravi, in Punjab, by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It was under this flag that Gandhiji declared our goal of freedom movement as “Purna Swaraj”, complete independence.
It was this flag, designed by Pingali Venkayya from Andhra, which became the basis for the Indian National Flag later. The Charka changed into Dharma Chakra – wheel of Dharma and the Saffron colour at the bottom went to the top instead.
More on this in our book, “Telugu Talli – Her Unknown Side”.
bharathgyanblog.wordpress.com 