Nearly 78,000 Indians wave national flag simultaneously in bid to break Pakistan record

Nearly 78,000 people simultaneously waved the national flag at a function attended by Home Minister Amit Shah here on Sunday, in an attempt to break a previous world record set in Pakistan 18 years ago.

The occasion was the 164th death anniversary of Veer Kunwar Singh, the then ruler of Jagdishpur, one of the heroes of the Revolt of 1857 against the British.

The event was organised by the Bihar BJP as part of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', the 75th anniversary of India's Independence.

Shah railed against “historians” for their “injustice” to Veer Kunwar Singh and his valiant fight, at a ripe age, against the British imperialists.

He also alleged that the Revolt of 1857 had been “belittled as a failure” until RSS ideologue V D Savarkar penned his seminal work “India’s First War of Independence”.

Shah was joined by top BJP leaders from Bihar, including Union ministers R K Singh and Nityanand Rai, deputy chief ministers Tarkishor Prasad and Renu Devi, and their predecessor Sushil Kumar Modi in waving the Tricolour for full five minutes, to an instrumental rendition of the national song 'Vande Mataram'.

The attendees were made to wear bands for physical identification and camera trap was installed, with Guinness Book of World Records for supervision. The crowds applauded when the gigantic screen installed at the venue put the headcount of flag wavers at 77,700.

The previous world record was of about 56,000 when Pakistani flags were waved at a function in Lahore in 2004.

Seen as the party's top strategist, Shah also recalled the role played by the BJP, along with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by whom he was received at the Patna airport, in ridding Bihar of "jungle raj".

In a veiled dig at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Shah remarked “merely going about without Lalu Prasad’s photos on posters cannot erase the memories of jungle raj”.

RJD national vice president Shivanand Tiwary said in a statement that the union home minister’s allusion to Prasad "though laughable, was an acknowledgement of the formidable presence in the state of the RJD which had emerged as the single largest party in the 2020 assembly polls in Bihar".

Tiwary also noted that it was "clever" on Shah’s part not to mention by name Tejashwi "who is now an acknowledged leader in his own right".

Shah thereafter left for Jamuar in the adjoining Rohtas district where he attended the first convocation ceremony of a private university named after and established by BJP leader Gopal Narayan Singh.

Addressing the students, he said, “Many people rue that we fell short of realising our true potential in the years that followed Independence. But I am not a pessimist. Our forefathers laid a solid foundation and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi we shall scale new heights.”

Shah also urged the students to "use your respective mother tongues in your personal lives, even if you cannot do so in your professional lives", though he stopped short of making a strong pitch for Hindi, which had recently evoked murmurs of discontent from certain parts of the country.

The home minister, who set his feet on the soil of Bihar after more than two years, concluded his tour with a visit to the holy city of Gaya where he offered prayers at the famous Vishnupad temple.

Shah had last visited the state in January, 2020 when he had addressed a rally in Vaishali district, aimed at dispelling the misgivings that arose out of the CAA-NPR-NRC controversy.

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