Twitter releases sixth commemorative Republic Day emoji honouring Indian Air Force

A day before the country’s 72nd Republic Day celebrations, Twitter has announced that it will launch a special emoji to commemorate the occasion. This will be the sixth consecutive Republic Day emoji released by the company. The emoji will also be used by national leaders tomorrow, Twitter said.

The social network has released the emoji, which depicts three Indian Air Force aircraft moving in formation in a flypast, with the Indian tricolour depicted in coloured smoke that is popularly used in airshows. Twitter also stated that the Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) will also use the emoji accompanied by the hashtag #TouchTheSkies as a mark of respect to the men and women in blue.

Twitter says that President Ram Nath Kovind (@rashtrapatibhvn) will also tweet out the emoji on Republic Day. Apart from English, the emoji will be available in ten other regional languages - Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Kannada, Punjabi. Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati. It will remain active until January 30.

Also read: Twitter India launches seven new custom emojis for the women’s cricket season

“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,” said Payal Kamat, Twitter Public Policy.

The microblogging site has previously released five other emojis for Republic Say celebrations -  namely the Indian map, the tricolour, the Ashoka Chakra, India Gate as well as another emoji with a tricolour symbol of India Gate. Last year, it also launched custom emoji to celebrate the Indian women's cricket season. An important part of the social networking site, sports emojis comprise of over 400 custom emoji on the platform.