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.
The world's largest vaccination drive against Covid-19 is being conducted in India, "and it will be a special occasion to celebrate when we complete administering 100 crore doses of vaccines", said the source.
Bhartiya Kisan Union Tikait district vice president Balkar Singh had already made it clear that, "No political leader will be allowed to share the stage where only Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders will be present."
The incident took place on Tuesday during a demonstration by the BJP in front of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's official residence over the Delhi Disaster Management Authority's (DDMA) order restricting celebration of Chhath Puja in the national capital.
The minister and his son are accused in the October 3 incident in which nine persons, including four farmers, were mowed down by SUVs. The minister's son Ashish Mishra has already been arrested.
It's likely that Sidhu will put forth the list of demands in the Punjab government as he is upset with the appointments in the government. He has resigned from the post of state president, but it has not been accepted yet by Sonia Gandhi. The meeting gains significance as it comes ahead of the CWC meeting.
The civil secretariat houses the top offices of the government, including those of the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and his advisors. Police tried to intervene to restrain the mourners from carrying out the sit-in outside the civil secretariat.
