Artists pay musical tribute to national flag on its 60th Independence anniversary

Acclaimed artistes paid tribute to the national flag Tiranga on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Independence on Friday.

New Delhi, Sep 1 : Acclaimed artistes paid tribute to the national flag "Tiranga" on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Independence on Friday.

Vocalist Pandit Jasraj, flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and lyricist Javedkhtar were among the noted artistes participating in a musical concert on the occasion.

Artistes said the concert coincided with the first hoisting of the flag, very similar to the present one, on this day in 1931 by the then Indian National Congress, which led to the struggle for independence from Britain.

"There are lots of songs and poems written on the Tiranga. But, we have adopted a different way to pay tribute to our national flag. We have written a nazm (couplet) on each colour of the flag," said Javed Akhtar.

"Whenever I see the flag, especially since I have started performing these programmes, I have realized the value of the Tiranga. The flag has become a religion, a tradition and love for country," said Chaurasia.

The Indian flag has three colours horizontally laid out. The saffron on the top denotes power, light and energy, white in the middle stands for peace, tranquillity and joy and green at the bottom implies growth and prosperity.

At the center, on the middle white strip, an Ashok Chakra, or the wheel with 24 spokes, has been drawn from third century BC emperor Ashoka's Dharam Chakra and each spoke depicts one hour of the day, portraying the prevalence of righteousness all day long.

The flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on July 22, 1947.

ANI