Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday said that the Punjabis are always ready to make sacrifices for safeguarding “unity, integrity and sovereignty” of the country as he dedicated the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial to the nation.
He said that despite the fact that Punjabis merely constituted 2.5 per cent of the country's total population, yet over 80 per cent of the sacrifices in terms of execution, incarceration or deportation to the islands of Andaman and Nicobar were made by Punjabis.
Badal, addressing public gathering after dedicating the first phase of prestigious Jang-e-Azadi memorial at Kartarpur, said that it was really shocking that the Punjabis were known for creating history but they never bothered to preserve their rich legacy of supreme sacrifices.
The SAD-BJP government, in consonance with this ideology, has already constructed state of art Virasat-e-Khalsa memorial at Sri Anandpur Sahib, memorials of big and small holocaust in Kup Rahira and Kahnuwan respectively and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur War memorial at Chappar Chiri, he said.
Badal said that it was the humble effort made by the state government to set up Jang-e-Azadi memorial to perpetuate the supreme sacrifices made by the freedom fighters and patriots during the national independence movement.
Appreciating the indomitable spirit of Punjabis of unprecedented bravery, courage and valour, he said that they had invoked the spirit of self-sacrifice from Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Arjun Dev, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh, who had waged a relentless battle against injustice, tyranny and oppression to safeguard the human rights of the innocent and helpless people.
Badal recalled that the gallantry deeds of great Punjabi soldiers like Naik Karam Singh, Major Somnath Sharma, Air Commodore Baba Mehar Singh, Joginder Singh, General Harbaksh Singh, Air Chief Marshall Arjan Singh, lieutenant General JS Arora, Captain Bana Singh and several others who brought laurels and glory for the country through their rarest of rare heroic deeds.
The Chief Minister said that the memorial would play a vital role and act as a beacon to acquaint the younger generations about the saga of great sacrifices made by martyrs especially from Punjab to free their motherland from the yoke of British imperialism.
Outlining the immense significance of these memorials, Badal said that only those nations survive who preserve their culture and other nations who ignored their glorious past were deemed to be vanished.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, addressing the gathering, said that the memorial would live in the memory of the people of Punjab till eternity and would also serve as an inspiration to future generations to remember the martyrs of freedom struggle.
Describing SAD as the true representative of all Punjabis, he said: “While on one hand, the party fought against the British empire tooth and nail, after independence also it was in the forefront of defending the rights of farmers and fighting for protection of democratic values.”
Reiterating SAD-BJP government’s commitment to continuously strive for prosperity of Punjab, Sukhbir said that the overall development of Punjab is an article of faith with the state government which would continue to press for securing interests of Punjab.
Union Minister for State and state BJP president Vijay Sampla said that the state government has proved that only alliance could preserve the glorious history of state and serve the people by taking inspiration from this rich heritage.
Sampla also listed the path breaking initiatives taken by state government to perpetuate our rich cultural heritage by constructing several memorials.
Earlier Deputy Chief Minister accompanied by Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia felicitated the freedom fighters and next of their kin with a shawl and a momento. later, the Chief Minister also honored the noted film director Shyam Benegal and architect of the project Raj Rawail.