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When Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Biplobi Bharat Gallery at Kolkata\u2019s Victoria Memorial Hall on March 23, it was not just an event held in remembrance\u00a0 of freedom fighters, but had greater significance.\u00a0As a grateful nation honoured the courage and supreme sacrifice of its freedom fighters and martyrs, the government simultaneously organised programmes in Delhi, \u00a0Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Manipur and Puducherry as part of 75-Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. On\u00a0the \u201cShaheed Diwas\u201d the PM\u00a0observed that the tales of sacrifice of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev inspire all of us to work tirelessly for the country\u00a0while legacy of our past guides our present and inspires us to build a better future.<\/p>\n
Though it may be unrelated \u00a0but ever since Aam Aadmi Party adopted Shaheed Bhagat Singh\u2019s vision and the party convener Arvind Kejriwal has started raising slogans of Inquilab Zindabad (long live the revolution) at various events in recent times, there is almost a frenzy among political parties to swear in the name of the legend.\u00a0 It also seems that AAP is trying to pit patriotic basanti colour associated with the legendary martyr, as against BJP\u2019s saffron.\u00a0The new party in power in Punjab has established Bhagat Singh\u2019s portraits in government offices, declared a public holiday on his martyrdom day, and has proposed to place his statue in the Punjab Assembly.\u00a0 One can witness an\u00a0euphoria with youngsters sporting T-shirts with Bhagat Singh\u2019s pictures and vehicles with portraits of the martyr, who clearly has become youth icon and a poster boy.\u00a0 Stickers with Bhagat Singh\u2019s name on them with the slogan \u201cLagda pher aouna pau\u201d (looks like he will have to take a re-birth),\u00a0have become a craze among the youth.<\/p>\n
Tehelka\u2019s special story in this issue \u201cThe Eternal Martyr\u201d is by the 91-year old veteran journalist, writer and author, Raj Kanwar. He tells that he was born on the same day when Bhagat Singh was martyred and there was complete \u2018hartal\u2019 in Lahore on that day.\u00a0 Our cover story \u201cDragon Under NATO Scrutiny\u201d by Gopal Misra is about Western alliance keeping a vigil on Chinese ambitions even as it gives Russia a window to exit from the Ukraine war.\u00a0Already\u00a0External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has sent a forthright message to China \u00a0that the onus of normalisation of ties lies with Beijing. It is indeed remarkable how India has resisted US pressure over Russia. The US President Joe Biden has lamented that India has been \u2018somewhat shaky\u2019 but actually it has held its own with dignity pursuing an independent foreign policy despite continuing pressure from the US and its allies. History is witness that Russia had stood by India\u00a0during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war. By standing with a time-tested ally and holding on to its own, India has maintained a fine balance.<\/p>\n
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When Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Biplobi Bharat Gallery at Kolkata\u2019s Victoria Memorial Hall on March 23, it was not just an event held in remembrance\u00a0 of freedom fighters, but had greater significance.\u00a0As a grateful nation honoured the courage and supreme sacrifice of its freedom fighters and martyrs, the government simultaneously organised programmes in Delhi, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":336720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[214,23,2205],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336721,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336718\/revisions\/336721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/336720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}