All projects of the Sports Department in Haryana from now on would be named after the martyrs, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij said today.
"All projects of the Sports Department in the state will henceforth be named after martyrs. This is being done to honour the martyrs who have been neglected so far," the minister said.
The sports minister said this during a meeting with Yadvender Singh, chairman of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Brigade and grandson of the freedom fighter, an official release said.
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Yadvender Singh expressed his gratitude to the state government and Vij for the decision to name sports complexes after the martyrs.
"It would honour those martyrs who had laid down their lives. The students have not been taught true history of the country and this is the reason why they are unaware of the sacrifice made by the martyrs and revolutionaries," Singh was quoted by the release as saying.
Shaheed Bhagat Singh's nephew Abhay Singh Sandhu also welcomed the initiative.
"We appreciate the initiative of the Haryana government. It will go a long way in inspiring our youth," Sandhu told PTI.
Vij said since Independence, the true history of the nation has been "hidden".
"That is why the martyrs could not get the honour they deserved. On the contrary, their families were spied upon and were even addressed as terrorists...," he said.
Lashing out at the Congress, Vij alleged that it had always taught children that "the Congress party got the country freedom".
"Not only this, the Congress party hailed the song 'Dey Di Hamne Aazadi Bina Khadag Bina Dhal' (we won freedom without using arms) which never happened because 26,000 soldiers of the Indian National Army set up by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, had sacrificed their lives while fighting with the British.
"Therefore, we cannot ignore the sacrifices made by martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Netaji Bose and many others," he added.
Notablly, Vij had last week said he had recommended to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to rename the sports complexes in the state, presently named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, to Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
Vij had said that there are 226 sports complexes in the state, of which 159 are complete while rest are under construction.
The minister had said that Abhay Singh Sandhu had been demanding to name projects after Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev for quite some time.
