JOIN USPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lamented that “a few families, a few dynasties and a few events” dominate the “narratives” of the country’s freedom struggle.
Felicitating 16 families of unsung heroes of 1817 mutiny against the British rule in Odisha, Modi, who is here to attend the BJP conclave, rued “unfortunately, narratives of our great freedom struggle were restricted to a few families, a few dynasties and a few events in our country. But, the freedom struggle was a people’s movement filled with sagas of dedications and sacrifices spanning over 700 to 800 years”.
He also promised the families that sacrifices made by their ancestors would be chronicled at the time of country’s 75th year of independence in 2022.
The move to honour kin of freedom fighters at a function in Raj Bhavan is seen as a reach out to people of the state to create right ambience as the BJP drums up its political activities towards its Look East strategy.
It was essential, the prime minister said, to recall those incidents for a "self-respecting country like India” and that “in human history, the remembrance of history is important”.