Why is there no map of Bangladesh in the national flag?

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National Flag
The national flag is a rare symbol of a country and its race, language, caste, tribe, etc. When it comes to the wealth acquired in the life and history of the Bengalis, the first thing that comes to mind is the unique symbol of the glory of Bangladesh – the national flag of Bangladesh. In exchange for the blood of about 3 million martyrs which we achieved in 1971. However, the current flag that we see everywhere was not the same as before. Let’s find out how the history behind the change of flag and flag design of Bangladesh came about.
Decision to make the flag of Bangladesh. Why is there no map of Bangladesh in the national flag?

Why is there no map of Bangladesh in the national flag?

The design of the flag of Bangladesh was done some time before independence. The first flag of Bangladesh was designed by some activists and student leaders of ‘Shadhin Bangla Nucleus’. Nine years before the war, in September 1972, three BCL leaders – Sirajul Alam Khan, Abdur Razzak and Kazi Aref Ahmed – planned to form a secret organization. Named ‘Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Parishad’, however, they secretly named their party Nucleus. Which was unknown for a long time. In July 1974, the High Command of the Independent Bengali Revolutionary Council or Nucleus was formed with these three members.

June 7, 1980. Bangabandhu will be greeted by the workers’ alliance at Paltan Maidan in Dhaka, the then capital of East Pakistan. The ‘nucleus’ planned to give a separate flag of East Pakistan to Bangabandhu at this event. For this purpose, a Joybangla Bahini with students, ‘February 15 Bahini’ was formed.

To this end, on June 6, BCL leader Kazi Aref Ahmed, ASM Abdur Rob, Shahjahan Siraj, Marshal Monirul Islam, BCL leader Swapan Kumar Chowdhury in room 118 (now 116-117) of Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall (then Iqbal Hall) of Dhaka University. Jagrannath University (then Jagannath College) BCL leader Nazrul Islam, Comilla district BCL general secretary and central student leader Shivnarayan Das, Engineering University BCL general secretary Hasanul Haque Inu and student leader Yusuf Salauddin Ahmed organized a meeting.

Flags of the past and present
The first design of the flag of BangladeshShiv Narayan Das

According to the unanimous decision of all, based on the initial proposal of Kazi Aref, after the discussion, the design of the flag with yellow map of Bengal as a symbol of golden jute in the middle of the red sun on the green ground was finalized. This map of Bangladesh was added to the flag for a special reason.

Kazi Aref Ahmed Saheb, Kamrul Alam Khan (Khasru) and two others were sent to Bazlur Rahman Laskar’s “Apollo” shop in New Market. Dressed in dark green and dark red, they went to the owner of Pak Fashion in Balaka Bhaban around 12 pm. He was Bihari (non-Bengali). Realizing the matter, he dismissed all the employees and made a flag by sewing a red circle in the middle of the green cloth according to the design without any payment.

Then Yusuf Salauddin Ahmed and Hasanul Haque drew a map of East Pakistan on a tracing paper with a map book from Enamul Haque in room 312 of Quaid-e-Azam Hall (now Titumir Hall) of Inu University of Engineering (now BUET). Comilla Chhatra League president Shivnarayan Das drew a map on the cloth from this tracing paper. He drew the map in the middle of the red circle of the flag using yellow paint and match sticks. He painted the map golden.

When making a map inlaid flag The first hoisting of the flag of Bangladesh on March 2, 1971, the first national flag in the history of Bangladesh was hoisted by ASM Abdur Rob, the student leader and the then Vice President of Daksu, at the West Gate in front of Kala Bhaban, Battala, Dhaka University. Other student leaders and workers were also present at the time. He was the vice president of the student union of Dhaka University at that time. The new symbol was created to prevent the East Pakistani symbol ‘moon’ from being used.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the green color of the flag was used to describe the green nature of Bangladesh. The flag at that time was therefore a map of Bangladesh (then East Bengal) in the middle of a bright green circle. Then at the beginning of the War of Liberation on 23rd March, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hoisted the national flag at his residence at Dhanmondi No. 32. It was officially adopted as the national flag of Bangladesh on 16 January 1972.

Why the map in the middle of the flag?

According to Kazi Aref Ahmed’s book ‘National State of Bengalis’, it is known that the flag was made as per the decision of Nucleus on June 6, 1970 and this flag is likely to be adopted as the flag of independent Bangladesh later. Then Monirul Islam (Marshal Moni) and Asam Abdur Rob said that this is the texture of the flag
Must be bottle green. Shahjahan Siraj said that there should be some red flag. The position of the red sun in the morning on the bottle green ground.

This design of the flag was then approved by the ‘Nucleus’ High Command. Kazi Aref Ahmed then suggested that the flag should be given a golden map in the middle of the red sun to protect it from Pakistani deception. Because, often the just movement of Bangladesh is propagated by the Pakistani ruling class as having the hand of India or the infiltration of Indians or the activities of Indian agents.

Moreover, at this time a fictional country called United States of Bengal or Bangladesh United States was born. The government administration used to make a map of this fictitious United States of Bengal with the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura, East Pakistan and Arakan in Myanmar as a conspiracy to undermine the demand for Bengali autonomy. In order to protect the flag from such propaganda, everyone agreed on the proposal to place the map of Bangladesh in the middle of the red sun in the colors of golden fiber and ripe paddy.

Also one of the most popular and widely used slogans of that time was “Joy Bangla”. In that case, the question remains, which Bengali is being spoken? East Bengal, West Bengal or two Bengalis? It was then decided that the flag would be a land portrait or map of the then East Bengal (present day Bangladesh). Interestingly, the decision was also taken that the map would not be needed if the country became independent – which later came true in the case of the flag (current flag) designed by Patua Kamrul Hasan.

Previously designed flag of Bangladesh
National flag of Bangladesh

After independence, in 1972, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s government asked Patua Kamrul Hasan to remove the map from the flag designed by Shiv Narayan Das and submit a report on the size, color and interpretation of the flag. The color green symbolizes the green nature and youth of Bangladesh, the red color of the circle is the rising sun, the war of independence
Symbol of the blood of the self-sacrificing. So the national flag of Bangladesh has a red circle in the green rectangle.

The flag will have a red circle in the middle of a rectangular green color of 10: 8 length and width. The red circle will have a radius of one-fifth of the length of the flag. This version of the national flag of Bangladesh was officially adopted on 16 January 1972. The modified form by Kamrul Hasan is now the national flag of Bangladesh.

On March 2, 1971, the first flag-emblazoned flag flew


One of the reasons for the omission of the map of Bangladesh in the current flag is that the map cannot be seen properly from both sides of the flag. There will be complications with sewing the right way on the map on both sides of the flag. It will be difficult for anyone other than the painter to draw the flag. The red circle is pressed slightly to one side, so that when the flag flies it can be seen in the middle of the flag.
Originally Shiv Narayan Das was the chief designer of the flag of Bangladesh. Kamrul Hasan changed it a little. However, since the map-emblazoned flag is not used at present, Kamrul Hasan is said to be the designer of the current flag. Shiv Narayan Das is mentioned as the designer of the flag during the war of liberation.

The history of the national flag of Bangladesh is emotional. This flag holds the whole country in its bosom.

Written by: Arif Hosen Rajon