The birth anniversary of ‘Iron Man’ Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was celebrated as a symbol of national unity and integrity and on the occasion, at several places, the unity races were taken out here on Tuesday. Uttar Pradesh’s Minister of State for Stamp and Court Registration Fees (Independent Charge) Ravindra Jaiswal flagged off the ‘Run for Unity’ and he along with the District Magistrate S Rajalingam, Chief Development Officer Himanshu Nagpal, ADM (City) Alok Kumar Verma, Regional Cultural Officer Subhash Chandra Yadav and many others paid tributes to Sardar Patel by garlanding his statue.
Addressing the people present on the occasion, Jaiswal said that the role of Sardar Patel has been most important in national integration. “Sardar Patel was the first Union Home Minister of India, who is fondly called Sardar for his courage and amazing leadership. He is known for the creation of united India. After independence, he travelled across the country and united all the princely states to make India a nation,” he said, adding that since 2014, his birth anniversary is celebrated as National Unity Day. On this occasion, he also administered the oath of nationalism and integrity to the people and then flagged off the unity race, which reached the statue of Sardar Patel at Maldahiya crossing.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers took out the Unity Bike Rally from the same place under the leadership of regional party president Dilip Singh Patel. Various programmes were also organised at different places. In Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), various programmes were organised. General Manager (GM) Basudev Panda paid floral tributes to the portrait of Sardar Patel along with Principal Chief Electrical Engineer Sushil Kumar Srivastav, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer Shishir Dutt, Principal Chief Materials Manager Rajneesh Gupta, Principal Chief Personnel Officer Ranvijay, Principal Financial Advisor Neeraj Verma, Principal Chief Medical Officer Dr Devesh Kumar, Principal Chief Engineer Vinod Bampal, IG-cum-Principal Chief Security Commissioner Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Chief Vigilance Officer PK Chowdhary, Senior DGM Vijay, Joint Secretary of Staff Council Srikant Yadav and others.
On the occasion, the GM also took the salute and inspected the parade in which personnel of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and volunteers of St John’s Ambulance Brigade, Civil Defence, Scouts and Guides etc participated. After this, the oath of national unity was administered by the GM and the programme was conducted by senior translator Amlesh Srivastava, while the vote of thanks was proposed by Assistant Personnel Officer Piyush Minj.
A National Unity Run was also organised from the camp office of 95 Battalion CRPF located in Pahadia in which the CRPF officers and personnel participated. The race was flagged off by the Commandant Anil Kumar Briksh. After passing through different areas including Pahadia Mandi, Sarnath and Ashapur, the race returned to the CRPF camp via Gate Number 1. Umakant Ojha, Deputy Commandant, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Assistant Commandant, and a large number of CRPF personnel participated enthusiastically in this programme.
Besides, a seminar was organised at Madan Mohan Malviya Hindi Patrakarita Sansthan in Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV) in association with Akhil Bharitaya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Dr Nagendra Singh, associate professor highlighted the historical significance and impacts of the Kheda and Bardoli Satyagrahas during the freedom struggle which were led by Sardar Patel. Presiding over the seminar, the Director of the institute Dr Anurag Kumar said that it is the duty of the youth to bring out and honour the forgotten historical figures.
The vote of thanks was given by Priya Rai, ABVP’s Varanasi joint secretary. Ashutosh Tiwari and Vidushi Verma conducted the function.