By IANS
New Delhi : Year-long official functions have been planned in different parts of India to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1857 First War of Independence and the 60th anniversary of independence.
A list of 65 suggested events has been prepared, commencing from Independence Day (Aug 15) and concluding on Aug 11 next year, officials connected with the celebrations told IANS.
Five events have been planned for August alone. These include the commemoration of the Aug 22, 1907 event when Madam Bhikaji Cama hoisted the national flag at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany. A function will be held on the day in Mumbai.
On Aug 28, functions will be held in Imphal and Kohima in memory of Jadonang, who fought against British rule, and was executed on Aug 28, 1931.
A function will be held Sep 9 in Amritsar to commemorate revolutionary Bhagat Singh’s founding of a revolutionary group, HSRA, on the same day in 1928.
On Sep 28, the birth centenary celebrations of Bhagat Singh (born 1907) will be held in Amritsar. The birth anniversary celebrations of Madam Bhikaji Cama (born 1861) will be held in Mumbai the next day.
The indigo peasants’ resistance that took place in Nadia Sep 13, 1859, soon after the British overcame the uprising in 1857 and established their empire in India, will be observed in the West Bengal district.
On Nov 7, the day in 1862 the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar, who led the independence war against the British, died in Yangon in British captivity, will be observed in New Delhi.
On Nov 28, a function will be held in Kanpur in memory of the defeat that British general Windham suffered on that day in 1857 at the hands of the Gwalior contingent at Kanpur.
One event has been planned for October in Kolkata, seven for November, and one in December to mark the Dec 28, 1896 singing of “Vande Mataram” at the Indian National Congress session in Calcutta.
Five events have been lined up for January, three for February, six for March and three functions listed for July 2008, including the commemoration in Chennai of the mutinous seizure of Vellore Fort on July 10, 1806.
Aug 9 has traditionally been celebrated as Quit India Day. The main function is held in this connection in Mumbai.
But the celebrations will be extended to Midnapore in West Bengal and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. Another event planned for the same day is the martyrdom of Kakori train raiders that took place Aug 9, 1925 in Lucknow.
The celebrations would end with observing the martyrdom of Khudi Ram Bose in Muzaffarpur. Bose was hanged on Aug 11, 1908.