MT News Service
Jammu, January 11:
Emotional tributes were paid to the martyrs of 1953 Praja Parishad agitation by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and prominent Civil Society members in an event organized at Hirangar.
BJP State President Ravinder Raina, party State General Secretary (Org.) Ashok Koul along with Former Dy. Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh, party State General Secretary Yudhvir Sethi, former Cabinet Minister Dr. D. K. Manyal, former MLAs Kuldeep Raj, Rajeev Jasrotia and other senior party leaders addressed the masses on the occasion.
On the day of 11 January, during the 1953 agitation for the “Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan”, martyrs Bheekam Singh and Bihari Lal laid down their lives for the greater good of the J&K region.
Ravinder Raina, while paying emotional tributes to the martyrs, said that the 1953 agitation under the slogan of Ek Vidhan, Ek Nishan, Ek Pradhan was first such historic agitation which brought all the patriotic people under one umbrella and many of them got bullets for raising tricolor, which was made a crime in those days by the then ruling Congress party and its allies. With the sacrifices of our brethrens in Hiranagar, Ramban, Jourian, Akhnoor and other areas, separate post of Prime Minister was abolished and now with the sincere efforts of BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has become possible today to truly unite the spirit of Jammu & Kashmir with the rest of India by achieving the aim of “One Constitution” throughout the Nation, he stressed. This time the real tribute is paid to them by the bold and historic decision of the abrogation of Articles 370 & 35(a) and we believe that their souls are at peace today in the heavens. Dr. Nirmal Singh, in his address, stressed said that we must remember the sacrifices and tell their tale to our future generations so as to always remind us that nation and national interests are above self and every nation loving person should take a pledge to take forward the unfinished agenda of the agitation and contribute towards fulfilling the same, which will be the true tribute to the martyrs. Ashok Koul, said that the Praja Parishad agitation was launched with the mission to achieve true unification of J&K with the rest of the Nation. It was with the objective of extending the national symbols in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The mission was integral with our souls and we are thankful to everybody who paid the price with their lives for achieving the feast. He also spoke on various instances related to this agitation and also introduced the family members of the martyrs of Hiranagar. He spoke on the lives of the martyrs of Hiranagar and adjoining areas, who jumped into the agitation at very low ages and sacrificed everything for motherland. He said that just remembering such martyrs for one day in a year is not enough and that we should have frequent programmes here.
Former MLC Ch. Vikram Randhawa, State President OBCs Morcha Rashpaul Verma, District President Prem Nath Dogra, Raghunandan Singh Bablu, Janak Bharti, Gopal Mahajan, Rajinder Bakshi, Mandal Presidents and other senior BJP leaders as well as prominent members of Civil Society also paid tributes to the martyrs on the occasion.
