By IANS
Amritsar : The Sikh holy city of Amritsar has been decorated and will be illuminated over the next two days as the nation commemorates the birth centenary of martyr Bhagat Singh. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was expected to come for the big event here Thursday and Friday, has called off the visit.
A contingent of relatives and acquaintances of Bhagat Singh from all over the globe will Thursday become part of a procession that starts from his native village of Khatkar Kalan in Punjab’s Nawan Shahr district and culminates in a rally in this city Friday.
“The relatives of Bhagat Singh and others have arrived from the United States, Canada and other countries and from all over India. They will be part of the procession from Khatkar Kalan,” Punjab’s director of public relations A.S. Bains told IANS.
Amritsar city has been decorated for the birth centenary with posters and banners on the martyr and his colleagues and these are being put up at all important places in the city.
“Bhagat Singh was a university in himself who formulated his own syllabus and prepared the people to get freedom as per this syllabus,” the martyr’s nephew, Jagmohan Singh, said here.
Singh urged the youth to sincerely follow the ideology of the martyr.
The Punjab government had requested President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come for the birth centenary celebrations of one of India’s best-known freedom fighters. However, none of them will be coming for the event now.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Tourism And Culture Minister Ambika Soni and chief ministers of Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand will be the only dignitaries for the public event being held at the Ranjit Avenue here.
Over 3,000 youth from Punjab and Haryana will reach here Thursday as part of processions from various places. They will be carrying “mashaals” (flame torches) from various parts of both states. These will be brought to the famous Jallianwala Bagh here – where British forces mercilessly killed hundreds of men, women and children on orders of General Dyer on April 13, 1919.
The events over the next two days will be telecast live on TV channels in India and abroad, Bains said.