Urging the Prime Minister to intervene in the row over naming of Chandigarh International Airport after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday said there is a national consensus on the issue and a formal decision to this effect should be taken soon.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene personally and put an end to any controversy on the issue as it is creating an unsavoury situation for all those who take pride in national martyrs,” the Chief Minister said.
“A proposal to this effect is already with the Government of India and we all assumed and still remain convinced that considering the massive national following Sardar Bhagat Singh enjoys, no one will even consider opposing the proposal. Any controversy on the matter needs to be snuffed out as quickly as possible,” the Chief Minister said in a release here.
Mr. Badal said all martyrs are worthy of adoration but everyone in the country acknowledges Sardar Bhagat Singh as ‘Shaheed-e-Azam’, the greatest martyr among martyrs.
In fact, he is a national and international icon, at par with heroes and martyrs like Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela and Mahatama Gandhi, he added.
Mr. Badal described him as the “pride of India” and said: “Sardar Bhagat Singh does not belong to Punjab alone but is a national treasure. We all know that national heroes like Sardar Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Kartar Singh Sarabha, Madan Lal Dhingra, Shaheed Udham Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru are the common heritage of the nation. Their names should never be made a subject of controversy by anyone.”
“It is distasteful and an affront to all our great national icons even to drag the issue of naming the international airport after Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat into a controversy. Even to raise a question on any proposal to name a national project after him would be unsavoury and a disservice to all those who, like Shaheed-e-Azam, put the interests of the nation above anything personal,” said Mr. Badal.
PM should intervene and put an end to any controversy on
the issue
