The ongoing Desh Bhakti-Tiranga Yatra launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party aims at revisiting the important historical towns and cities across the country which played a significant role during the freedom struggle, said Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Inaugurating a function organised as part of the yatra at Gandhi Bhavan here on Saturday, she said that as per the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party leaders were travelling across the length and breadth of the country to take a fresh look into such historically important places besides meeting freedom fighters.
Accordingly, she was in Belagavi which is identified with the first woman freedom fighter Rani Channamma of Kittur.
She said that there was lot to learn from the lives of freedom fighters so that the importance of their sacrifices needed to be valued and retold to the contemporary generation of youth.
Her recent visit to a small town close to the Tibet-China border helped her learn about a very inspiring struggle of the native people who stood decisively against the Chinese army in the 1962 war, opting to be within India.
Then, there were army soldiers and officers who were guarding the borders 24 x 7 in the most adverse climatic conditions and the most difficult terrains so that civilian society lived in peace and harmony.
“This is what we need to convey to the people to kindle the light of patriotism,” she said.
Earlier, Ms. Sitharaman paid floral tributes to the statue of Rani Channamma at the Rani Channamma Circles in the city and later at Kakti, the birth place of the Queen of Kittur, and participated in the Tiranga Yatra.
Suresh C. Angadi, MP, Prabhakar Kore, MP, BJP the district president and MLA, Vishwanath Patil, the party’s city unit president, Anil Benke, and party legislators were present.
