Maharashtra government to screen Uri on Kargil Vijay Diwas

Mumbai: The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit is trying to play up the Uri and Balakot strikes, believed to be one of the key factors which helped the BJP return to power with a massive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, to garner voters’ attention ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

The state government has planned to screen Uri-The Surgical Strike free of cost across the state on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas on July 26.  

The film is based on the 2016 Indian Army’s surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan as a retaliation for the Uri attack that claimed the lives of 17 army personnel.

The Ex-servicemen Welfare Department headed by Sambhaji Nilangekar-Patil has written a letter to all district collectors and guardian ministers to coordinate with college principals and collectors to conduct a meeting for the screening of the movie.

A senior official said that distributor, producer, and cinema house association has agreed to screen the film free of cost.

A source also said that a football match will also be held between the Indian Army team and Bollywood team at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai on Kargil Vijay Diwas.

Sandeep Ghuge, director of Abhigna Nine Media and Entertainment, said, “We are coordinating and managing the football match which will be held between the Army stars versus film stars on Kargil Vijay Diwas at Cooperage Ground.”

The sources said that close to seven lakh rupees would be spent on organising the match. The expenditure will be borne by the state government.

An official, who did not wish to be named, said that Mr Nilangekar-Patil has personally written to all the district collectors on July 17 and also wrote to all guardian ministers on July 19 about organising the screening of the movie.

The Asian Age is in possession of the letter, which was addressed to guardian minister of Mumbai city Subhash Desai.

The letter states that in order to inculcate the devotion for Armed forces and increase their prestige, the department of ex-servicemen welfare on July 26, 2019, at 10 am will hold a screening of Uri-The Surgical Strike free of cost.

The main aim of this exercise is to inspire the youths. The minister has also requested the guardian ministers to remain present in the programme.       

The Kargil War was declared over on July 26, 1999, after the Indian soldiers had pushed back the Pakistani troops, a bulk of them drawn from the neighbouring country’s Northern Light Infantry.

Since then, this day is observed as ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ to commemorate India’s victory.

Meanwhile, defence minister Rajnath Singh visited Kargil on Saturday, days before the Kargil Vijay Diwas.