Government to shortlist 100 'unsung heroes' for 'Yaad Karo Kurbani' theme this independence week

NEW DELHI: The government has identified close to 150 iconic places related to the freedom struggle in the country which ministers and BJP MPs will be asked to visit in the run-up to August 15.
A list of nearly 100 'unsung heroes' of the freedom struggle is being drawn up as well for publicising their stories as part of the 'Yaad Karo Kurbani' theme.

Also, over 30,000 pictures, 2 lakh audio video footage of original recordings of events, speeches related to the Indian freedom struggle, owned by Doordarshan and All India Radio, will be shared with private news media organisations for a fortnight this year as part of the centre's Independence day celebration.

These include Lata Mangeshkar's memorable rendering of 'aye mere watan ke logon' that made Jawahar Lal Nehru cry, the iconic speech of Subhash Chandra Bose 'Give me blood and I will give you freedom' to the horrid massacre pictures of Jallaianwala Bagh.



On Wednesday, senior I&B officials reached out to News Broadcasters Association (NBA), Broadcast Editors' Association, and other associations in media, urging private channels and media organisations to be part of the 'week-long' carnival of reminiscing the Indian freedom struggle. PM Narendra Modi is himself expected to kick off the celebrations at a function a week before August 15.

From August 4 to August 17 there will be continuous programmes on Indian freedom struggle, democracy and unsung heroes of Indian history, top government officials said. I&B minister Venkaiah Naidu has taken two meetings on this front.

"It has been made clear to us that this time, it will be Independence festival and not Independence Day," a senior official said.

After consulting MPs V Sathyabama, Madhusudan Mistry, Vivek Gupta, Sanjay Jaiswal and Harivansh, the I&B ministry has also drawn up a list of nearly 100 unsung heroes who will be commemorated as part of the Independence day celebrations.

Indian revolutionaries Chapekar brothers — Damodar Hari, Balkrishna Hari Chapekar and Vasudeo Hari, who were instrumental in assassination of WC Rand, the then British plague commissioner of Pune because of the British Raj's indifference to the city's plague victims are among them.