India got freedom from the mark of slavery

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inducted INS Vikrant into the Navy's fleet by unveiling the new Navy flag today and also got rid of the symbol of the colonial era's slave mentality. The new Navy flag is in line with the rich Indian maritime heritage leaving behind the colonial past. Most of the countries of the British colonial period have now changed their naval markings. This includes the countries of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa. The British flag used to be on the flag of all these countries earlier.

St. George's Cross has been removed in the new flag of the Indian Navy. Features the Indian Navy crest on a dark blue background enclosed in an octagon representing the royal seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The Prime Minister's Office had already issued a statement saying the new mark would be "distant from the colonial past... in line with the rich Indian maritime heritage". Since the independence of the country, the naval emblem has been changed four times. Now again this symbol or flag has been changed by Prime Minister Modi to get rid of the symbol of slavery mentality of colonial era.

Any country's navy has a flag which is flown over all naval installations including warships, ground stations and airports. The Indian Navy also has its own emblem or flag, which till now had a red cross on the base of white which is the symbol of St. George. The tricolor in the upper corner of the flag as well as the Ashoka symbol in the middle of the cross. If we look at the history of the Indian Navy, on 2 October 1934, the Naval Service was renamed as the Royal Indian Navy. After the partition of the country, when the separate armies of India and Pakistan were formed, the navy was divided as the Royal Indian Navy and the Royal Pakistan Navy. After this, on 26 January 1950, the word Royal was dropped from the Indian Navy and it was named Indian Navy.

The British flag was removed and the tricolor was replaced by the British flag in the upper corner of the naval flag before independence. After the colonial period other pre-colonial navies removed the Red St George's Cross in their new flag, but the Indian Navy retained it until 2001. After this, the flag was changed once again in 2001 during the government of Atal Bihari Bajpayee. This time the Navy logo was replaced with the George Cross in the middle of the white flag and the tricolor at the top left corner was retained. This was followed by a third change in the flag or emblem to include the Red George Cross in 2004. The new change included the national emblem Ashoka Pillar in the center of the red George Cross. After this, for the fourth time in 2014, another change was made, Satyamev Jayate was written below the national emblem Ashoka Pillar.