Hope springs eternal for Rao village residents

Shiv Kumar Sharma

The assurance given by Haryana Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sandeep Singh has rekindled hope among the representatives of Inquilab Shahid Samarak Charitable Trust of Gumthala Rao village in Yamunanagar district about their demand of giving status of martyrs to freedom fighters who participated in the freedom struggle of India from 1857 to 1947.

The minister assured the representatives of the Inquilab Trust to help them in this work, when they met him on January 5 and handed him over a memorandum in this regard.

“Our country attained freedom about 72 years ago in 1947, but no government has legally given the status of martyrs to those who attained martyrdom for the freedom of the country during 1857 to 1947. No government tried finding their families and giving them facilities being given to the family members of martyrs, who attained martyrdom after 1947,” says Advocate Waryam Singh, founder of Inquilab Shahid Samarak Charitable Trust.

He said Sports Minister Sandeep Singh has assured them to extend all possible support to fulfil the dream of Inquilab Trust of giving the status of martyrs to freedom fighters.

The Inquilab Trust has established an ‘Inquilab Temple’, one of the unique temples of the country, at Rao village, where instead of keeping idols of gods and goddess, the statues and portraits of martyrs of freedom struggle have been established.

“We have installed the statues of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Udham Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Mangal Pandey, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Ashfaqullah Khan, Durga Bhabhi and Subhash Chandra Bose at the temple in the last 12 years after its establishment in 2007. Besides, a large statue of ‘Bharat Mata’ has also been installed and portraits of 150 martyrs have been kept in the temple,” says Waryam Singh.

He says a 40-ft high Tricolour has been installed on the premises of the temple and around 1,100 saplings have also been planted.

Besides giving respect and paying homage to martyrs, the temple has been constructed with an aim to keep the stories of martyrdom of martyrs alive among the younger generation.

Martyrs’ Day falls on March 23 every year and the country remembers them that day. But, at Inquilab temple, martyrs are remembered every day where they are paid homage.

People of Rao village and other villages of the area assemble at the temple every evening and pay homage to martyrs with flowers besides saluting them. People don’t miss to celebrate martyrdom as well as birthdays of these heroes of the nation.

Waryam Singh said they have also requested minister Sandeep Singh to print a photo of Inquilab temple on the Haryana Government’s calendars. “The minister has given us a positive response about our demand,” Waryam Singh said.