Bharat Ratna for Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev: Manish Tewari

New Delhi: Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accord India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, to freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Tewari said Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev inspired an entire generation of patriots by their unrelenting resistance to British imperialism. The letter stated, “If on 26th of January, 2020, all three of them are honoured with the ‘Bharat Ratna’... They are formally conferred with the honorific of ‘Shaheed-e-Azam’. The Chandigarh airport located in Mohali is named Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh Airport, Chandigarh (Mohali). This gesture would touch the hearts and souls of 124 crore Indians.”

He further added, “I would like to draw your kind attention towards the fact that Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev inspired an entire generation of patriots by their unrelenting resistance to British imperialism and later their supreme sacrifice on the 23rd of March, 1931.”

Mr Tewari shared his letter on Twitter too.

His letter comes in the wake of the Maharashtra

BJP triggering a row earlier this month when it suggested in its election manifesto that Veer Savarkar be conferred the Bharat Ratna.

The Congress, which believes that Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse was influenced by the Hindutva ideologue’s philosophy, reacted sharply to the development.

Earlier, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi had also called for conferring the Bharat Ratna on Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.

Interestingly such a demand was not raised by the Congress when it was in power. From 2004 to 2014, the Congress was in power and Mr Tewari was a Lok Sabha MP from 2009 to 2014. He was also a Union minister in the government from 2012 onwards till the end of the UPA’s term.