A close relative of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh has demanded the new civil air terminal at the Chandigarh airport be named after the martyr.
Earlier on September 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the new building, which will handle both domestic as well as international flights.
“But when it was inaugurated, the Shaheed’s name was ignored. This is an insult to the martyrs. When (Punjab) Government itself had proposed to name the airport after the martyr, then it should have been done… where does the problem lie?” said Abhay Singh Sandhu, nephew of Bhagat Singh.
The 57-year-old Sandhu, who is the son of Bhagat Singh’s younger brother Sardar Kulbir Singh, demanded that the Centre should issue a notification and name the airport after Bhagat Singh without further delay. Different organisations connected with the martyr across the country are planning to hold a demonstration in Chandigarh on October 11 to protest against the insult heaped on the freedom fighter.
Mr Sandhu said, “I want to clarify that there was no demand from the family that the airport be named after Sardar Bhagat Singh… The proposal came from the government’s side. However, people now feel it as an insult to the great martyr who made supreme sacrifice for the sake of this country.”
The Punjab government has been demanding that the airport be named as ‘Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Shaheed Bhagat Singh International airport, Mohali’. But the Haryana government had objected to the word ‘Mohali’, and insisted on keeping its name after Chandigarh, though the state government had maintained it had no objection over the use of Bhagat Singh’s name.
Mr Sandhu also reiterated that the files pertaining to Bhagat Singh and Sardar Ajit Singh, a freedom fighter, be declassified. He claimed that the martyr’s family had been kept under “surveillance” for several years and demanded that the government must declassify all files pertaining to them.
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