{"id":70431,"date":"2026-02-10T21:24:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnaorg.com\/wp\/articles\/save-other-anniversaries-from-the-fate\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T17:13:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T22:13:00","slug":"save-other-anniversaries-from-the-fate","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/apnaorg.com\/wp\/articles\/save-other-anniversaries-from-the-fate\/","title":{"rendered":"Save other anniversaries from the fate"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/strong>Chaman Lal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date:20-09-06<\/em><\/p>\n

Source: APNA<\/em><\/p>\n

In spite of apology rendered by Congress party about the unconfirmed date of Vande Matram centenary, the controversy generated by non-existent centenary of Vande Matram refuses to die down. Now BJP has come out with Gazette notification issued by Govt. of India on 2nd May,’06 by Culture ministry that five anniversaries would be observed during the year. Anniversaries mentioned are-150th year anniversary of first war of Independence fought in 1857,60th anniversary of independence achieved in 1947,100th year anniversary of ‘Vande Matram’ sung first time on 7th September 1906 at Congress session in Benaras,as per Govt. justification, 75th anniversary of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, which incidentally fell on 23rd March 2006, much before gazette notification and birth centenary of Bhagat Singh, born on 28th September 1907. Since this detail about gazette notification of anniversaries is issued by press statement of BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad (The Hindu-12\/09\/06),taking Govt. to task for insulting Vande Matram, it needs to be confirmed from Govt. sources. There is no mention of Tilak’s 150th birth centenary or Chander Shekhar Azad’s birth centenary, which also falls during this period. Ravi Shankar Prasad is not ready to trust eminent historian Sumit Sarkar, being a ‘leftist’, so he trusts his own sense of historicism, which tells him that Vande Matram was indeed sung on 7th September 1906 and Congress session was indeed held in Benaras on that particular day. Congress party should indeed use the services of Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad, from where else they would find such competent historian!<\/p>\n

Joking apart, the whole issue has been treated in such a grotesque manner that one feels ashamed at such petty level of politicking in the name of patriotism ,  particularly by BJP and Congress parties. Ravi Shankar Prasad has himself mentioned the presence of five former Prime Ministers, including his party leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, along with former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani in that meeting of national committee formed in connection with these national anniversaries, whose meeting was probably held sometimes in April. I remember that one of the former Prime Minister Vishwath Pratap Singh had not attended that meeting, whereas CPI leader A.B.Bardhan was one of the participants. At a later day function, where both the leaders had come, I had enquired about that meeting’s decisions from them. The background of this enquiry was that I myself had been pursuing the anniversaries of Bhagat Singh to be celebrated in befitting manner at national level, as well as at India and Pakistan celebrating it together. In this connection I had met both V P Singh and Bardhan. Bardhan at receiving my proposal had promised to write to the Prime Minister in this regard and he did .This was confirmed by another CPI leader Amarjit Kaur , who also told me that Prime Minister had sent Culture Minister Ambika Soni to them to discuss the issue, who had suggested that these two anniversaries— Completion of 75th martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, which was falling on 23rd March 2006, and birth centenary of Bhagat Singh, which was to begin from 28th September 2006, should be included in the proposed national committee and a programme should be chalked out about all the anniversaries together. The meeting of this committee was to be held later and it was probably in this meeting that these decisions were taken. But by then completion of 75 years of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh on 23rd March 2006 had already passed , still it was included in the list of anniversaries as per Ravi Shankar Prasad’s press release. I remember no official function of any kind was held on 23rd March, either at centre level or even at Punjab level, except for routine ritual of every year, conducted  by Punjab Govt. at official level at Hussainiwala martyr memorial or at Khatkarklan village, again a non-existent birth place of Bhagat Singh, who was born in Chak No. 105 in Lyallpur(now Faislabad) district of Pakistan on 28th September 1907.<\/p>\n

However a semi-official function to mark the day was celebrated by Vande Matram famed Shashi Bhushan, former MP,and his friends at  Mavlankar Hall in Delhi on 23rd March 2006 , in which apart from Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar,leaders of CPI and CPM were present, though Delhi CPM held her independent function also, apart from many other mass organizations holding this function all over India. I had pleaded for this particular day to be observed at Lahore , jointly by Indian and Pakistani democratic people, as these great martyrs were hanged in Lahore jail on 23rd March 1931 and were properly cremated at banks of river Ravi in Lahore, where Lala Lajpat Rai was also cremated earlier. My campaign for it did take some momentum, as many individuals and organizations did try to organize this function at Lahore.I also tried with my writer acquaintances in Lahore through emails. But these efforts did not succeed as both Indian and Pakistani Govts. took no interest. In fact Sita Ram Yechuri was ready to go to Lahore along with SFI and also AISF activists, but had to drop at last moment  as visas were not issued. Same thing happened to Swami Agnivesh’s efforts, who was promised hundred visas by a senior Pakistani official, few weeks ago. Only people succeeded in reaching Lahore on that day were-eminent journalist Kuldip Nayar,jurist Rajinder Sachar and one or two MP’s. About fifty people, including Pakistanis, paid their homage to the martyrs on 24th March, as 23rd March is celebrated as Pakistan’s national day.<\/p>\n

In my proposal for both the anniversaries, I had suggested the formation of a national committee, which should have included eminent historians like Bipin Chandra, Irfan Habib and Sumit Sarkar, apart from living legends of revolutionary movements, which include hundred year old Ghadrite Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga, President of Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee(Ghadar Martyr Memorial), Jalandhar. Apart from the leaders of all major political parties, the proposal was sent to President Abul Kalam, who, claims to be a fan of Bhagat Singh and had visited Bhagat Singh museum at Banga, near ancestral village of martyr Khatkar Kalan. Although it is claimed that President goes through his email himself and replies also, my twice sent mail in this regard did not bring even acknowledgement.<\/p>\n

After looking at the fate of one anniversary out of many included, I shudder at the thought, what would be the fate of remaining anniversaries? In my view, had competent historians been involved in chalking out programmes for the anniversaries, this fiasco would not have occurred. Despite Ravi Shankar’s distrust of anyone labeled ‘leftist’, as he has tried to say about Sumit Sarkar, the credibility of historians or other academicians in different areas of their competence is much higher than our politicians. The recent debate in Rajya Sabha on NCERT books about history and Hindi literature, also shows our politicians in poor light. Particularly three BJP MP’s—Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi, incidentally all three former Ministers of NDA regime, in their participation in discussion on these books on 18th and 24th August 2006(Rajya Sabha-Questions on internet), have neither put facts properly, nor took into account the sensitivities of literary appreciation. Their only purpose seemed to settle score with the Minister Arjun Singh, who incidentally was targeted during Vande Matram controversy also. In this regard, the role of media, particularly electronic media also leaves open many questions. On one side, there is explosion of information on internet, on every conceivable subject, on the other hand, electronic media, so much dependent on internet, does not choose to use objective documentation easily available on internet, instead it uses the sensation created by historically illiterate statements of media hungry politicians or other sections of society to make news an entertainment industry.<\/p>\n

I think there is no need of any official functions about remaining anniversaries. Let the institutions like schools, colleges, universities or publication bureaus etc. be given grants to hold the functions for our young generations in more enlightened manner, like holding seminars, bringing out books and pamphlets etc Govt. may sponsor some good serials or films as well.<\/p>\n

Government of India at these anniversaries should honor the commitment given to living Indian revolutionaries meet in Delhi in 1958, convened by Jogesh Chander Chatterjee, MP at that time and himself a Kakori case convict. This conference held on 13&14th December,1958, was inaugurated by then Home Minister of India-Govind Ballabh Pant and was presided over by Dr. Bhupinder Nath Dutt, younger brother of Swami Vivekanand. This was attended by 363 alive revolutionaries at that time, which included-Barinder Kumar Ghosh, younger brother of Aurbindo ghosh, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, and many others. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had invited them to his house on tea and discussed the issues of the conference. This conference had passed resolution to the effect that-‘A national martyr memorial would be established in Delhi’ and ‘A history of Indian revolutionary movement’ would be brought out. None of the promised has been honored till day, even after nearly five decades of that conference. The best thing Govt. at its level can do in this one year period is to establish ‘A National Martyr Memorial Museum and Library”, like Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, which should display the photographs of martyred revolutionaries-1757 onwards, and a library, having collection of books, transcripts, manuscripts journals, proscribed literature etc relating to revolutionaries. This memorial can be established at either Ferozeshah Kotla grounds, where Bhagat Singh and H.S.R.A. had held its historic meeting on 8th and 9th September 1928, or it can be established on Janpath, directly opposite to National Archives, where at present Indira Gandhi centre for art& culture is functioning, but which has got a huge multi storey building of its own nearby. Govt. should also bring out “A National Martyrs Directory” with photographs and biographical details in all Indian languages, apart from English. If Govt. at its level can do just these two things in this year, without making any noises like Vande Matram public singing, it would do much more genuine work than anything else. But this is possible only, if petty intention of getting political mileage is blown out of UPA or other political parties.<\/p>\n

.Political parties hold entirely different perceptions about  the history of our country, which is natural also. If political parties have  to hold the functions on such events, they should do it at party levels. Let them train their cadres in whatever manner they want. In fact during my campaign about Bhagat Singh anniversaries, some friends had questioned about my proposal to have national committee at official level, seeing the reputation of Govt. at such low level. My argument was that since the Govt. have public money to spend, why some of public money be not spent for such lofty ideals of remembering our national heroes? Now I see the validity of their reasoning. In fact, I had requested my friends in leftist stream-four left parties in Parliament and other leftist forces outside Parliament, to form their own joint national committee to chalk out programmes on Bhagat Singh anniversaries at mass organizational level, to achieve a little bit more of leftist unity also. The perception of left and right is absolutely different about history. How can they have any kind of joint activity? What had happened during Vande Matram celebrations? Left has remained largely aloof from all, kinds of activities and rightly so. The left intelligentsia did try to focus upon facts about Vande Matram. Just focusing upon facts brought so much violent reaction from the right can be gauged from how Ravi shankar Prasad has shown contempt for Sumit Sarkar or Sudheendra Kulkarni, Vajpayee chum, in his column, has tried to heap insult on Malini Parthsarthi’s article on Vande Matram in The Hindu, by mentioning her ‘part ownership’ of Hindu and her ‘leftist leanings’. What does this mean?  You don’t talk about the facts or arguments given by the writer, you try to focus upon entirely unconnected aspects of  a writer’ life.<\/p>\n

I do not think Congress party will learn any lesson from this incident. It is part of her practice to do soft communalism to compete volatile communalism, most of the time loosing the game and bringing suffering to common people. It did by opening the gates of Ayodhya, it did it by bringing ant-woman Muslim law. The result today is- both the communities have been more communalized than ever before, thanks to Congress variety of secularism. But it is time for the left to learn few lessons, they can , if they wish. But do they wish?<\/p>\n

Chaman Lal(Editor-Documents of Bhagat Singh)

\n Professor

\n Centre of Indian Languages

\n JNU,New Delhi-110067

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