Flag of the Romani people censorship to read "Gypsy flags" ("banderitas gitanas"). Suspicions that the tricolor's prominently displayed red stood for communism led some activists to promote a green-blue bicolor with a red flame or wheel instead of the stripe. The wheel variant was the basis for the design recognized by the WRC in 1971. The ultimate design is attributed to an Indian Romologist, Weer Rajendra Rishi. Specifications were also adopted at that meeting, basing the wheel itself on the "Ashoka Chakra", as used in the flag of India. The decision to include "something Indian" on the flag was generally popular, reflecting in part Rishi's
Flag of the Romani people "esnaf" of the Ottoman Empire. From 1955, a "flag of the Gypsies" represents Romani pilgrims to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. It is described as a sixteen-ray comet on a field of starry blue with the effigies of Christ and the Virgin Mary. The item is explained in more detail as a "grand flag of the night, carrying the Star of the Magi." According to historian Ian Hancock, the current flag originates with the world Romani flag proposed in late 1933 by Romania's General Union of the Romanies (UGRR), upon the initiative of Gheorghe A. Lăzăreanu-Lăzurică; the "chakra"