Govt should get Bhagat Singh's case reopened: Akali MP
Nawanshahr (Pb), Apr 30 (PTI) After objections were raised to Bhagat Singh being called a "revolutionary terrorist" in textbooks, a Shiromani Akali Dal MP has now demanded that the government get the case in which the freedom fighter was hanged reopened in Lahore. Prem Singh Chandumajra today said comparing revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and others with "terrorists" is a great insult to the freedom fighters who made the supreme sacrifice for the country. The Akali Dal MP urged the Union government to get Bhagat Singh's case in Lahore reopened in which he along with Sukhdev and Rajguru, were tried and hanged to death "despite absence of their names in the FIR". Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged by British authorities on March 23, 1931. A book titled "India's Struggle for Independence", which has been part of Delhi University's curriculum for over two decades mentions Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Surya Sen and others as "revolutionary terrorists" in Chapter 20. It also calls the Chittagong movement a "terrorist act", while killing of British police officer John Sanders has been called an "act of terrorism". Following the controversy, the university yesterday decided to stop the sale and distribution of its Hindi translation. Earlier, the SAD leader distributed smart cards to traders with a turnover of less than 1 crore and said Punjab is the first state in the country to distribute such cards to the traders along with the poor, Dalits and marginal farmers. The cards entitle the holders free medical treatment worth Rs 50,000 every year and compensation up to Rs 5 lakh in case of death of the head of the family.
