Shah to lay foundation for Gorata memorial

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Yuva Morcha is working in full swing for the installation of a memorial at Gorata village in Bidar district, the foundation for which would be laid by the party’s national president Amit Shah on September 17.

Gorata is called the Jallianwala Bagh of South India, after the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad massacred 200 villagers of Gorata for hoisting the Indian flag in 1948. The foundation stone will be laid on September 17 as it was on this day that Hyderabad was liberated from the Nizam’s rule and merged with the Indian Union.

The 35-foot monolith memorial is being sculpted by renowned sculptor Shankar Sthapathi and will portray the martyrdom of the Gorata villagers, BJP State Yuva Morcha’s P Muniraju Gowda said.

The party has already purchased a one-acre plot for the memorial. A statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, instrumental in integrating Hyderabad into the Indian Union, would be installed beside the memorial.

The party collected Rs 10 each from five youths from each of the 54,000 polling booths in the State. The amount collected from the drive - Rs 27 lakh - was recently handed over to party State president Pralhad Joshi.

The foundation-stone laying ceremony would be attended by 20,000 youths across the State. BJP leaders from the State would also be present. Arrangements have commenced for the accommodation at Bidar. The memorial will be completed in a year and the prime minister will be invited to inaugurate it.

‘Gorata Jagruti Rath Yatra’ is being taken out in the districts of Hyderabad-Karnataka-Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir and Bellary, ahead of the foundation-stone laying ceremony,  Gowda said.