Eyeing U'khand, Punjab polls, Cong to honour B'desh war veterans
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Dec, 2021 11:13 AM
New Dec 10 (IANS) With an eye on the upcoming Uttrakhand and Punjab Assembly polls, the Congress is planning to felicitate the war veterans of the 1971 India-Pakistan War during the end of the year-long celebration of 50th Anniversary of Bangladesh Liberation War
The celebrations will formally conclude with a ceremony in the national capital on December 15. Besides, programmes in all the districts would also be held on December 16.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be the Chief Guest at the ceremonial function here. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be addressing a rally in Dehradun (Uttarakhand) on December 16 that will include a large number of 1971 War Veterans and other military veterans.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said: "Programmes like honouring War Veterans and War Widows, and commemorating the Bangladesh Liberation War-1971 shall be conducted in a befitting manner at the district level across the country on December 16."
The Bangladesh Liberation War, 1971 (BLW-71) celebrations (which were delayed due to Covid-19) started in mid July with a District level meeting at Panchkula (Haryana) on July 10, 2021.
To date, the Indian National Congress has organised over 100 district level meetings throughout the country. The state level functions commenced on November 16 with a meeting in Kohima (Nagaland) followed by other States and are continuing. Maximum District meetings have been held in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.
Through the formal concluding ceremony of Bangladesh Liberation War, 1971 (BLW-71) will be held on December 15, several states, which have not concluded their state level functions, have been asked to continue up to December 31 and conclude the celebration programmes with honouring of martyr families as also war veterans.
The programmes shall also continue at the District/Block levels in some of the "Soldier States" like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan beyond the end of this year.
Venugopal said that all the meetings held so far, a large number of military veterans have enthusiastically participated and have been honoured. The programmes have also left an everlasting impression on the youth of the country making them aware of the saga of the Bangladesh Liberation War under the visionary and courageous leadership of Indira Gandhi, and the decisive military victory planned and executed under an outstanding military leadership of the day led by Field Marshal (then General) Sam Manekshaw.
According to sources, Kejriwal will visit Sangrur, Mansa and Bathinda on October 28 and 29. He will have a dialogue with farmers on Thursday and will meet businessmen on Friday.
The NCB team arrived here this afternoon and is understood to have recorded Wankhede's statement besides summoning a 'Panch-Witness' Prabhakar Sail for probe.
The petition alleged that as per the video of the meeting, the CM was asking party workers to make "500-600-1,000 volunteers" in every district of north and west Haryana, and be ready to "face sticks, imprisonment", which will make them "big leaders".
He trashed allegations that the Border Security Force (BSF) would take over the state's administration or will be deployed in the Golden Temple, and said such misconceptions were being spread by certain people to score brownie points in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
Accusing the BJP of only serving the corporates, he said the BJP government is committed to serve the industrialists who have already set up silos and other infrastructure because of the farm laws.
Claiming that the Delhi government has not withheld a single penny from the MCD, he alleged that the BJP has used its revenues earned from toll tax and advertisements for "illegal purposes". He also said that the saffron party has floated a tender for medicines, which cannot be procured before December.
