Mumbai: As Indians across the world gear up to celebrate the 72nd Republic Day, Twitter India today announced the launch of a specially dedicated emoji to mark this momentous occasion. The unique emoji design depicts the Indian Airforce fly past in the Indian tricolors. The flypast soars the skies as part of the Republic Day celebrations each year.
The Hon’ble President of India Shri Ramnath Kovind will Tweet with the emoji, calling upon Indians in the country and across the world to revel in the celebrations and sentiments of national pride, unity and honour.
The Indian Air Force too will Tweet out the emoji and urge citizens to use the hashtag #TouchTheSkies and show their respect to men and women in Blue as they soar the skies on Republic Day.
The emoji will be live until 30th January, 2020 and will be available in English as well as ten Indic languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Kannada, Punjabi. Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati.
Payal Kamat, Public Policy, Twitter India, said, “Emojis have become a popular form of expression and are a light-hearted way to engage in conversations with one another. On this day every year we strive to bring Indians from all parts of the world together on Twitter. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, we needed to find a way to bring the parade to the virtual public square. This year’s emoji is not only a special tribute to the fly past – the showstopper of the parade each year – it is a way of bringing people together in the spirit of celebration.”
This is the sixth year Twitter has supported Republic Day in India with a dedicated emoji. Previously, the service has added zing to the Republic Day conversations with emojis representing the map of India, Indian tricolor, India Gate, Ashoka Chakra, and a tricolor symbol of India Gate. Twitter also supports Independence Day, Diwali, Ambedkar Jayanti, Gandhi Jayanti among other key milestones and events, with innovative emojis that are specifically designed with Indian culture and sentiment in mind.
