Amidst a raging controversy on the Karnataka government’s move to explore the possibility of giving an official status to the red-and-yellow “Kannada flag”, the birth centenary year of the person who designed it is nearly forgotten.
Writer and Kannada activist Ma. Ramamurthy, nicknamed ‘Kannadada Veera Senani’ , who created the bicolour flag as the symbol of Kannada Paksha floated by him, was born on March 11, 1918. While there are no preparations for celebrating his birth centenary, an outfit called Kannada Geleyara Balaga plans a series of programmes to mark the birth centenary year starting in August.
Manu Baligar, president, Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP), said they would plan a centenary year in “a befitting manner” though no specific programmes have been planned yet.
Ramamurthy, who died in 1967 in an accident, led the Kannada movement from the front in the ‘50s and ‘60s under the leadership of renowned writer Aa. Na. Krishnaraya and others. “He is among those who took initiative in organising the Kannada Rajyotsava Day when the government was not marking November 1, even after the unification of the State in 1956,” says Ra. Nam. Chandrashekhar of the balaga. The flag itself was designed in 1966, a year before Ramamurthy’s death. Historians have noted that the Kannada flag came as a response to the bicolour flag of the Dravidian party that was being hoisted by migrant workers from Tamil Nadu in some areas of Karnataka, including Bengaluru.
That was the year when Karnataka Samyukta Ranga (Karnataka United Front) was formed to bring together all Kannada organisations. Krishnaraya was chosen as its president and Ramamurthy became its secretary. This Kannada platform organised the Akhila Karnataka Kannadigara Bruhat Samavesha (All Karnataka Kannadiga Convention) at the Mysore Chamber of Commerce, Bengaluru, to discuss and design a Kannada flag. The convention was inaugurated by Vatal Nagaraj and presided over by Ramamurthy. Both the leaders eventually went on to form two political parties — Kannada Paksha and Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha — with two different flags. However, it was Kannada Paksha’s red-and-yellow flag that stayed on as a symbol of the language even after the party faded away. “Kannada activists have embraced the present bicolour flag and continue to use that long after the demise of Ramamurthy,” said writer Jayatanaya in an essay on the history of the flag.
