Pre-independence movement of
British India, 1880–1947 A number of flags with varying designs were used in the period preceding the
Indian independence movement by the rulers of different princely states; the idea of a single Indian flag was first raised by the British rulers of India after the
rebellion of 1857, which resulted in the establishment of direct imperial rule.
The first flag, whose design was based on western heraldic standards, was similar to the flags of other British colonies, including Canada and South Africa; its red field included the
Union Jack in the upper-left quadrant and a Star of India capped by the royal crown in the middle of the right half. To address the question of how the star conveyed "Indianness",
Queen Victoria created the
Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India to honour services to the empire by her Indian subjects. Subsequently, all the
Indian princely states received flags with symbols based on the heraldic criteria of Europe including the right to fly defaced British red ensigns. , which represented the provinces and states. The surrounding red border symbolised India being kept united and whole by British rule. In the early twentieth century, around the coronation of
Edward VII, a discussion started on the need for a heraldic symbol that was representative of the Indian empire. William Coldstream, a British member of the Indian Civil Service, campaigned the government to change the heraldic symbol from a star, which he considered to be a common choice, to something more appropriate. His proposal was not well received by the government;
Lord Curzon rejected it for practical reasons including the multiplication of flags. Around this time, nationalist opinion within the realm was leading to a representation through religious tradition. The symbols that were in vogue included the
Ganesha, advocated by
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and
Kali, advocated by
Aurobindo Ghosh and
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Another symbol was the cow, or
Gau Mata (cow mother). However, all these symbols were Hindu-centric and did not suggest unity with India's Muslim population.
Early tricolour development , design of the "Flag of Indian Independence" raised by
Bhikaji Cama on 22 August 1907, at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany In Europe, in 1579, during the
Eighty Years' War, which established the independence of the
Dutch Republic from the
Spanish Empire, newly formed
Netherlands adopted the first
tricolour in the world, known as
Prinsenvlag, an orange-white-blue flag. This flag symbolised
independence. During the
French Revolution, in 1790,
Le Tricolore, a blue, white and red flag was adopted to symbolise
republicanism (overthrow of monarchy). The flag of the Netherlands inspired the flag of France, which in turn inspired many further tricolour flags in countries around the world. Every country took to its own choice of colors to be represented in their tricolours. The
partition of Bengal (1905) resulted in the introduction of a new flag representing the
Indian independence movement that sought to unite the multitude of castes and races within the country. The
Vande Mataram flag, part of the nationalist
Swadeshi movement, comprised Indian religious symbols represented in western heraldic fashion. The tricolour flag included eight white lotuses on the upper green band representing the eight provinces, a sun and a crescent on the bottom red band, and the
Vande Mataram slogan in the
Devanagari script on the central yellow band. The flag was launched in
Calcutta bereft of any ceremony and the launch was only briefly covered by newspapers. The flag was not covered in contemporary governmental or political reports either but was used at the annual session of the
Indian National Congress. A slightly modified version was subsequently used by
Madam Bhikaji Cama at the
second International Socialist Congress in
Stuttgart in 1907. Despite the multiple uses of the flag, it failed to generate enthusiasm amongst Indian nationalists. Around the same time, another proposal for the flag was initiated by
Sister Nivedita, a Hindu reformist and disciple of
Swami Vivekananda. The flag consisted of a thunderbolt in the centre and a hundred and eight oil lamps for the border, with the
Vande Mataram caption split around the thunderbolt. It was also presented at the Indian National Congress meeting in 1906. Soon, many other proposals were initiated, but none of them gained attention from the nationalist movement. In 1909,
Lord Ampthill, former Governor of the
Madras Presidency, wrote to
The Times of London in the run-up to
Empire Day pointing out that there existed "no flag representative of India as a whole or any Indian province... Surely this is strange, seeing that but for India there would be no Empire." adopted by
Annie Besant and
Bal Gangadhar Tilak In 1916,
Pingali Venkayya submitted thirty new designs, in the form of a booklet funded by members of the High Court of
Madras. These many proposals and recommendations did little more than keep the flag movement alive. The same year,
Annie Besant and
Bal Gangadhar Tilak adopted a new flag as part of the
Home Rule Movement. The flag included the Union Jack in the upper left corner, a star and crescent in the upper right, and seven stars displayed diagonally from the lower right, on a background of five red and four green alternating bands. The flag resulted in the first governmental initiative against any nationalistic flag, as a magistrate in
Coimbatore banned its use. The ban was followed by a public debate on the function and importance of a national flag. In the early 1920s, national flag discussions gained prominence across most British dominions following the peace treaty between Britain and Ireland. In November 1920, the Indian delegation to the
League of Nations wanted to use an Indian flag, and this prompted the British Indian government to place renewed emphasis on the flag as a national symbol.
Gandhi's activism In April 1921,
Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his journal
Young India about the need for an Indian flag, proposing a flag with the
charkha or
spinning wheel at the centre. The idea of the spinning wheel was put forth by
Lala Hansraj, and Gandhi commissioned Pingali Venkayya to design a flag with the spinning wheel on a red and green banner, the red colour signifying Hindus and the green standing for Muslims. Gandhi wanted the flag to be presented at the Congress session of 1921, but it was not delivered on time, and another flag was proposed at the session. Gandhi later wrote that the delay was fortuitous since it allowed him to realise that other religions were not represented; he then added white to the banner colours, to represent all the other religions. Finally, owing to the religious-political sensibilities, in 1929, Gandhi moved towards a more secular interpretation of the flag colours, stating that red stood for the sacrifices of the people, white for purity, and green for hope. On 13 April 1923, during a procession by local Congress volunteers in
Nagpur commemorating the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the
Swaraj flag with the spinning wheel, designed by Pingali Venkayya, was hoisted. This event resulted in a confrontation between the Congressmen and the police, after which five people were imprisoned. Over a hundred other protesters continued the flag procession after a meeting. Subsequently, on the first of May,
Jamnalal Bajaj, the secretary of the Nagpur Congress Committee, started the
Flag Satyagraha, gaining national attention and marking a significant point in the flag movement. The
satyagraha, promoted nationally by the Congress, started creating cracks within the organisation in which the Gandhians were highly enthused while the other group, the
Swarajists, called it inconsequential. Finally, at the All India Congress Committee meeting in July 1923, at the insistence of
Jawaharlal Nehru and
Sarojini Naidu, Congress closed ranks and the flag movement was endorsed. The flag movement was managed by
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with the idea of public processions and flag displays by common people. By the end of the movement, over 1500 people had been arrested across all of British India.
The Bombay Chronicle reported that the movement drew from diverse groups of society including farmers, students, merchants, labourers and "national servants". While Muslim participation was moderate, the movement enthused women, who had hitherto rarely participated in the independence movement. While the flag agitation got its impetus from Gandhi's writings and discourses, the movement received political acceptance following the Nagpur incident. News reports, editorials and letters to editors published in various journals and newspapers of the time attest to the subsequent development of a bond between the flag and the nation. Soon, the concept of preserving the honour of the national flag became an integral component of the independence struggle. While Muslims were still wary of the
Swaraj flag, it gained acceptance among Muslim leaders of the Congress and the
Khilafat Movement as the national flag. Detractors of the flag movement, including
Motilal Nehru, soon hailed the
Swaraj flag as a symbol of national unity. Thus, the flag became a significant structural component of the institution of India. In contrast to the subdued responses of the past, the British Indian government took greater cognisance of the new flag and began to define a policy of response. The British parliament discussed public use of the flag, and based on directives from London, the British Indian government threatened to withdraw funds from municipalities and local governments that did not prevent the display of the
Swaraj flag. The
Swaraj flag became the official flag of Congress at the 1931 meeting. However, by then, the flag had already become the symbol of the independence movement.
Louis Mountbatten's 1947 proposal for the flag of India, effectively the flag of the Congress but with a Union Jack in the canton. It was rejected by
Jawaharlal Nehru, on the grounds that he felt that Congress' nationalist members would see the inclusion of the Union Jack as pandering to the British. On 14 July 1947, the committee recommended that the flag of the
Indian National Congress be adopted as the National Flag of India with suitable modifications, so as to make it acceptable to all parties and communities. It was also resolved that the flag should not have any communal undertones. The spinning wheel of the Congress flag was replaced by the
Ashoka Chakra from the
Lion Capital of Ashoka. According to
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the
chakra was chosen as it was representative of
dharma and law. However, Jawaharlal Nehru explained that the change was more practical in nature, as unlike the flag with the spinning wheel, this design would appear symmetrical. Gandhi was not very pleased by the change, but eventually came around to accepting it. The flag was proposed by Nehru at the Constituent Assembly on 22 July 1947 as a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron, white and dark green in equal proportions, with the Ashoka Chakra in blue in the centre of the white band. Nehru also presented two flags, one in Khadi-silk and the other in Khadi-cotton, to the assembly. The resolution was approved unanimously. It served as the
national flag of the
Dominion of India between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950, and has served as the flag of the
Republic of India since then. == Timeline of official flags ==