Dear CM, before asking for new flag, do something for the Kannada flag creator's wife
- The Kannada flag was designed by Ma Ramamurthy in 1960s.
- Kamalamma, wife of Ma Ramamurthy who designed the red and yellow Kannada flag is now 91 years old
- She lives in Sharada Abalashrama, a home for destitute women in Basavanagudi, for the past 50 years
FollowThe Kannada flag was designed by Ma Ramamurthy in 1960s. After nearly 50 years Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has taken the demand to re-design the Kannada flag seriously. But dear Chief Minister do you even know in which condition the wife of late Ramamurthy lives in today?
Kamalamma, wife of Ma Ramamurthy who designed the red and yellow Kannada flag is now 91 years old. She lives in Sharada Abalashrama, a home for destitute women in Basavanagudi, for the past 50 years.
CM as well as the pro-Kannada activists and people who have been posting emotionally about the need for a new flag for the state should also think about the state of those who gave the first flag to Karnataka.
Speaking to Ashwini M Sripad of the Indian Express Kamalamma told that the Kannada Flag was unfurled for the first time it Akkipet in Chikpet. As a tribute, a locality in East Bengaluru, Ramamurthynagar, was named after the Kannada writer-activist.
Kamalamma had also said that she remembers preparing breakfast and lunch for writers who visited home with her husband Ramamurthy. The Kannada flag was coloured red and yellow as it represents the Arisina - Kunkuma (Turmeric and Kumkum) which is considered auspicious in the Kannada land.
CM Siddaramaiah has made it clear that a nine-member committee set up by the government following a demand of the pro-Kannada activistes to have a separate flag for Karnataka.
He told the Indian Express that, “The Constitution does not restrict the states from having separate flags. We are not undermining the supremacy of the national flag and the integrity of the nation. Once the committee submits its report considering all the legal aspects, an “apolitical decision” will be taken in the larger interest of Karnataka.”
But while discussing or staging protest no one even bothered to think about the person who designed the Kannada flag. It is sad that when the flag is considered as an identity of the state and also of represents the people of the state, the plight of the family of the person who designed it does not matter at all.
Hope the Karnataka government takes the issue seriously and sees to it that the wife of the maker of the Kannada flag gets to live comfortably. else any number of talks or even newly designed flag getting the official tag too will not be meaningful.
