By Erum Altaf for MuslimMirror.com,
When the BJP govt and its ally RSS is forcing Muslims to prove their loyalty to the country and teach them the ‘Lesson of Patriotism’ by dictating them to unfurl Indian National Flag in Madarsas, its very pertinent to remind such bigots that Muslims not only respect the National Flag but in fact a Muslim woman is the designer of it.
The Hindutva forces rarely acknowledge that Surayya Badruddin Tayyabji is the woman who designed the National Flag, Abid Hassan ‘Safrani’ gave the slogan of ‘ Jai Hind’ Maulana Hasrat Mohani is the person who gave the revolutionary slogan of ‘Inqulab Zindabad, Allama Iqbal wrote famous lyric ‘ saarey Jahan sey achcha hindostan hamaara ‘slogan of “Madare Vatan Bharat Ki Jai” was given in 1857 by Azeem Ullah Khan and more over revolutionary slogan of ‘Quit India’ was given by Yusuf Meher Ali.
Lrief sketch
Surayya Badruddin Tayyabji ( Ali) was born in 1919 in Hyderabad ( AP, now capital of Telengana). She was the daughter of Aamir Ali and Leila Hasan Latif . Her father Badruddin Tyabji was involved in Indian national Congress and worked towards women’s emancipation. She was an artist and a designer . She passed away in 1978 in Mumbai.
Recent research by Capt. L Panduranga Reddy proves that the India flag designed by Pingali Venkaiah of Vijayawada is only half truth. The flag evolved over several decades of the freedom movement. Even Venkaiah implemented the ideas of Lala Hansaraj and Mahatma Gandhi.
In 1921, a Congress volunteer ( Pingali Venkaiah) presented a design of a flag to Gandhi which he passed on to the working committee. According to Bhogaraju Pattabhi Seetharamaiah, the issue of flag was discussed for the first time in Calcutta Congress session 1923 . In his book Congress charita, he mentions that charaka was added to the flag but does not mention the name of the actual designer once.
An erudite English historian Trevor Royle in his book ‘ the Last days of Raj’ reveals that the final national flag was made by Surayya and the flag was approved on July 17 ,1947 in PM’s office.
Relevance
On 14th July 1947, one month before India gained independence a meeting was called to select a final flag for India. During this meeting it was decided that Indian National Congress’ party flag would be used as the final flag. Badruddin Tayabji was present as a Congress Party member. However, his wife spoke out and came up with the final idea for the flag. Surayya Tayabji felt that using a flag which had become the symbol of Indian National Congress would have been a divisive force and would alienate those who had different political ideas. She also valued the significance the three colours had in India’s independence and did not want to wash out the history. Therefore she suggested replacing the spinning wheel in the middle with the symbol of Emperor Ashoka, who was respected by both Hindus and Muslims. The Ashoka Chakra had 24 spears and represented a number of things which include dharma and religion according to Buddhist teachings. However it is also known as the Samay Chakra (wheel of time) and represents 24 hours. It was felt the wheel would symbolise moving forward peacefully without resisting change.
On 17th July Surayya created a hand made version of the above flag to show Nehru, and on 22nd July it was unanimously accepted. That same night the man who would be India’s first Prime Minister, Nehru, flew Surayya’s handmade flag on his car. Surayya Tayabji was therefore the woman who not only designed the tri-colour flag as we know it, but also the woman who first made the flag.
Surayya is the reason that the orange, white and green fill Indians all over the world with patriotic admiration. She is the reason we fly those colours on Ealing Road when India win the cricket. She is the reason we have a beautiful flag with amazing meaning for our country. However, her contribution has been forgotten, and most people won’t even credit her as the person who designed the flag.
In 2009 India created a commemorative stamp to celebrate Pingali Venkaia as the man who designed India’s flag. There was no mention of Surayya. The photo which has been used in this article is the only photo which is available on internet. The woman who designed the final flag of India has been forgotten and almost wiped out of History. Please read this story and share it to make sure Surayya’s name is not forgotten.
With inputs from the articles of Sheshu Babu and Manoj Kerai.
Thanks miss erum for spreading such kind of knowledge with us and let us proud what we did for our country. Actually this type of artical incourage us to do something big for our country and let the dog bark…. Wo kahte hai na kuch to log kahenge logo ka kam hai kahna
Beautiful article…..truly an eye-opener…
Thanks Erum for spreading such kind of awareness within young generation because now days youth are busy in wahats up facebook nobodys knows about history. such kind of information incourage us to do something big for our country..let the dog bark… woh kahte hai na kuch to log kahenge logo ka kam hai kahna
Truth needs to be told in this age of fascist propaganda.
Muslim Indians are atleast 10 times more patriotic than hatemongers.