Confer Bharat Ratna on Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev: Manish Tewari writes to PM

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Manish Tewari has urged him to confer the Bharat Ratna on freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. His suggestions come in the wake of the BJP in Maharashtra demanding that the Bharat Ratna be conferred on Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar, which triggered a row.

New Delhi:Congress leader Manish Tewari has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer the Bharat Ratna on freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.

In a letter to Modi, he also requested him to formally confer the honorific title of Shaheed-E-Azam on them and dedicate the Chandigarh airport located in Mohali in memory of Bhagat Singh.

"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," the MP from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab said.

"It would be in the fitness of things that 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 as Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh Airport, Chandigarh (Mohali). This gesture would touch the hearts and souls of 124 crore Indians," he said in his letter dated October 25.

Tewari shared his letter on Twitter too.

His suggestions come in the wake of the BJP in Maharashtra demanding that the Bharat Ratna be conferred on Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar, which triggered a row.

Reacting to this, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa questioned Tewari about Bharat Ratna to Gandhi- Nehru family. He said in 70 years Congress conferred Bharat Ratna on Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi but never thought of conferring it on Bhagat Singh. He also said that 1984 Sikh carnage took under regime of Rajiv Gandhi so his Bharat Ratna should be taken back.

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 whereas Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had also written a letter to PM Modi and requested him to confer Bharat Ratna on Hockey player Balbir Singh, who is three times Olympic gold medalist.

Copy of letter of Punjab CM to PM