Senior Congress leader and former union minister Manish Tewari today asked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he really knew who was Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, the greatest martyr India is proud of. “I really doubt whether Mr Modi has any idea about Shaheed Bhagat Singh as during the last five years he never found a few hours to pay obeisance at his memorial here”, he remarked, while adding, “I am sure, if Modi Ji knew about him, he would have certainly visited here given his exaggerated pretentions about nationalism”Addressing a public meeting near Bhagat Singh’s memorial here today, Tewari announced that the first thing he will do after getting elected, will be to move a resolution in the parliament to officially declare Bhagat Singh as the Shaheed-e-Azam. “His sacrifice in India’s freedom struggle remains unmatched, unparalleled and officially unacknowledged, as we have failed to recognize it on record”, he said. “Our great martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru have not got their due”, he regretted while adding, “we, at least, owe a respectable acknowledgment and gratitude towards our great martyrs without whose sacrifices we won’t be here today”.
Tewari had a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi that despite his great pretentions about ultra-nationalism, he has not deemed it necessary to spare an hour to pay obeisance at the memorial of this great martyr. “Or may be he doesn’t find Bhagat Singh saleable in his scheme of things”, he remarked. “God willing, if you send me to the parliament, I promise, the first thing I will do, is to bring in a resolution to get Shaheed Bhagat Singh officially declared as the Shaheed-e-Azam and I am sure each and every member of the parliament irrespective of the party he belongs to will support it and cooperate in getting it through”, he declared amidst thundering applause from the crowd that had gathered near the memorial of the great martyr.The Congress candidate took a jibe at his Akali rival and sitting MP Prem Singh Chandumajra for not doing anything about the village despite adopting it as a ‘model village’ every MP was supposed to do. “He has not even put up a single brick here”, he regretted, while saying that this was so characteristic of the sitting MP’s indifference towards his constituency.Tewari said, all that Chandumarja had done during last five years was fooling people in the name of development, while actually doing nothing on the ground. He said, he lied to the extent that he got union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari to lay the foundation of a road, which was never approved and naturally which never saw light of the day.Tewari said, he only promises things, which he is sure of doing. “I have never ever made any false promise or commitment to anyone”, he said, while adding, “I say only what I mean and I always do what I mean”.Tewari was accompanied by senior party leaders, including Satbir Singh Pallichakki, Tarlochan Soond, Mohan Lal Banga, Harpreet Kainth and others.