Centre sets up panels to celebrate 150th birth anniversaries of Patel, Munda and Vajpayee's birth centenary

New Delhi: The Centre has made three high-level committees for the commemoration of 150th birth anniversaries of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Birsa Munda, and the centennial birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair each committee which as members have several chief ministers as well as union ministers.

In the gazette notifications issued on Monday, the union ministry of culture announced the three committees. “To commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Competent Authority has approved the constitution of a High Level Committee,” one of the notifications read.

The committee for Patel’s 150th birth anniversary will have 124 members, and its mandate will be to approve policies and plans, programmes and supervise and guide the commemoration and decide on the broad dates for the detailed programme of celebration. “The recommendations of the Committee will be considered by the Government for implementation, subject to extant Rules, instructions and practices,” the notification states.

As members, the committee has former Presidents Pratibha Patil, Ramnath Kovind, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and over 20 Governors and LGs, besides L K Advani and Venkaiah Naidu. The committee also has 21 chief ministers, including Opposition CMs Siddaramaiah, Omar Abdullah, Sikhvinder Singh Sukkhu, M K Stalin and Revanth Reddy. The committee also has Patel’s family members Nandini and Diribhai Patel.

The committee on Birsa Munda has 118 members, including President Patil and President Kovind, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, several cabinet ministers including Shah, Sitharaman, and Rajnath Singh, besides 20 Governors and L-Gs. The committee also has over 20 CMs, including Opposition CMs Hemant Soren, Pinarayi Vijayan and Revanth Reddy, besides Naidu and Advani.

The Committee on Vajpayee has 124 members, and in addition to the former Presidents and Cabinet ministers, Advani and Naidu, has 19 Governors and L-Gs and 17 CMs including Mamata Banerjee and Bhagwant Mann, besides Soren and Siddaramaiah. This committee also has as members Ranjan Gogoi, spiritual guru Ravi Shankar, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Ram Madhav, Suresh Prabhu, Kapil Dev, Azim Premji as well as Advani’s daughter Pratibha Advani.