Pingali Venkaiah, freedom fighter and designer of the tricolour, should be given Bharat Ratna for his contribution to the nation, said founder president of Sri Swami Vivekananda Swachanda Samastha, Zahir Ahmed, here on Tuesday.
Leading a rally, carrying a 139-foot-long National Flag in the Old Town area, on the occasion of the 139th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, Dr. Ahmed said Venkaiah had been ignored despite his contribution as freedom fighter and being the chief designer of the flag.
Born on August 2, 1878 in Penamaluru village in Krishna District, Venkaiah completed his schooling in Machilipatnam and degree from Colombo.
He joined the British Army to serve in South Africa during the World War I. That is where he met Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and became his follower.
He returned to India to become a staunch Gandhian and joined the freedom movement. Venkaiah was instructed by Gandhiji to design a National Flag with the spinning wheel as a symbol at a National Congress meeting in 1921. Finally, the present design with the Ashok Chakra was finalised by the Congress on July 22 in 1947, said Dr. Ahmed. But despite being a stalwart, he died in penury in a hut in Vijayawada in 1963, Dr. Ahmed recalled.
Dr. Ahmed demanded that Venkaiah should not only be given Bharat Ratna, but a memorial building should be built in his name, a bust be kept in Parliament and his statue erected at the new capital in Amravati. Dr. Ahmed also observed that Venkaiah’s birth anniversary was observed last year by taking out a rally with a 138-foot-long National Flag.
