NEW DELHI: The Modi government has declared October 31 as “Rashtriya Ekta Diwas” (National Unity Day) to mark the birth anniversary of country’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, continuing its policy of recasting the way national icons are to be commemorated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister had already launched an initiative to install the tallest iron statue in the world in honor of Patel, a Congress legend who hailed from Gujarat, in Narmada River.
The move comes a week after the Union Cabinet decided that the government will associate only with the birth and death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The anniversaries of other departed leaders may be observed by respective trusts, parties, societies or supporters. It has also decided not to convert government bungalows into memorials.
The new approach had come under attack from Congress and other opposition parties which said the Modi government was trying to appropriate Congress icons and ignore those from the Gandhi-Nehru family or parties that differed from saffron ideology.
In an official statement, the Home Ministry said the occasion will provide an opportunity to re-affirm the inherent strength and resilience of “our nation to withstand the actual and potential threats to the unity, integrity and security of our country”.
This day is also the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was shot dead by her bodyguards in 1984. However, there is no mention about Gandhi in the release.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has written to all Chief Ministers to observe this day and hold functions at state as well as district levels.
This was followed by a letter by Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami to all state Chief Secretaries for ensuring observance of the day at all levels.
According to the statement, all the government offices, public sector undertakings and other public institutions will arrange a pledge-taking ceremony to observe the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.
Human Resource Development Ministry has been “requested to issue suitable instructions” that the students of schools and colleges may be administered the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas Pledge to motivate them to strive to maintain the unity and integrity of the country.
All Ministries and Departments of the government and all the state governments and administrators of all the Union Territories have been requested to organize programs, including the ‘Pledge-taking Ceremony’, ‘Run for Unity’ involving people from all sections of society.
A march-past by the police, the central armed police forces and other organizations like the National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Scouts and Guides, Home Guards will also be organized in the evening.
Born in 1875, Patel served as the Home Minister of this country from August 15, 1947 till his death on December 15, 1950. He played key roles in organizing peasants’ movements in Kheda, Borsad and Bardoli in Gujarat and promoting the ‘Quit India Movement’ against the British regime.
Modi had earlier announced building a ‘Statue of Unity’, a 182-metre-high monument of Vallabhbhai Patel. It will be installed directly facing the Narmada Dam, 3.2 kms away on the river island called Sadhu Bet near Vadodara in Gujarat. –PTI
