Ludhiana: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday called upon people to join hands and wage a war against social maladies like unemployment, corruption, communalism, and social discrimination to realize the dreams of our freedom fighters and make a ‘Rangla’ Punjab. Addressing a gathering at the state-level function to mark Independence Day at Guru Nanak Stadium here, the Chief Minister said these maladies are hampering the progress of the state and the prosperity of its people.
Unfurling the tricolor on the occasion, he said the time has come to weed out these maladies, adding this mission cannot be accomplished without the active support of the people. The Chief Minister said it is a matter of great pride and honor for every Indian that the country has completed 75 years as an independent and democratic republic today.
Congratulating all the countrymen, especially Punjabis, in India and across the world on this historic occasion, Mann said India’s road to Independence was long and hard, but equally difficult is the path to maintaining this freedom. The Chief Minister also said as a colony of the British Empire the country had suffered a lot and the brave and determined heroes of our freedom struggle made enormous sacrifices to remove the shackles of foreign imperialism.
He said it is on record that more than 80 percent of the great patriots who laid down their lives or were subjected to British tyranny in one form or other were Punjabis. Mann said that a string of gems like Baba Ram Singh, Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, Shaheed Rajguru, Shaheed Sukhdev, Lala Lajpat Rai, Shaheed Udham Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Diwan Singh Kalepani, and many others, shed their blood to achieve an independent nation.
