By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Mussoorie, 2 Sep: To pay homage to the martyrs on the 26th anniversary of the Mussoorie firing, various political and social organisations, family members of the martyrs, as well as locals reached the martyrs’ memorial in Jhulaghar, today, and paid their heartfelt tribute.
A ‘Sarvadharma Sabha’ was organised on the occasion. In view of the Corona epidemic, special attention was paid to social distancing. BJP MP Ajay Bhat, while paying tribute to the martyrs, said the state government was working in accordance with the dreams of the martyrs – a lot had been done and much would be done. He said that due to the martyrs, a separate state was formed, only after which could they become MLAs and MPs.
MLA Ganesh Joshi also paid tribute to the martyrs and said that Mussoorie has played an important role in the statehood movement. He said the martyrs could not be forgotten. Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat said that visiting the memorial provided inspiration for state building. He said that the central government had to create a separate state after the sacrifice of the martyrs. Asserting there had been many big changes in the journey of 20 years, in which all the people of the state had played their part. He acknowledged that much more needed to be done.
Former Congress state president Kishore Upadhyay said the martyrs sacrificed their present for the future and their dreams still needed to be fulfilled. He alleged the Trivendra Singh Rawat government had done nothing for development. Senior leaders of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Trivendra Panwar and Latafat Hussain said governments were formed by the Congress and the BJP, but these were just exploitative regimes. Migration from the state had left the hill areas empty. They lamented that, even after 26 years, the killers of the martyrs had not been punished. Central funds for the state were not being utilised properly.
Activists of the Aam Aadmi Party also turned up at the site. Uttarakhand agitator Devi Godiyal and social activist Manish Gouniyal said Uttarakhand was formed for the preservation of water, forests and land but, today, liquor, land and mining mafia were exploiting the state. BJP leaders OP Uniyal and Vijay Ramola said the central and state governments of BJP were continuously working for the development of Uttarakhand.
Also present were Jot Singh Gunsola, Manmohan Singh Mall, Bhagwati Prasad Sakalani, Bhagwan Singh Dhanai, Ganesh Shaili, Municipal President Anuj Gupta, Mussoorie Congress President Gaurav Aggarwal, BJP Mussoorie President Mohan Patwal, Kushal Singh Rana, Jasvir Kaur, Darshan Rawat, Sarita Kohli, Jasoda Sharma, Satish Dhaundiyal, Sarita Panwar, Rajeev Agarwal, Arvind Sonkar, Sunil Panwar, Manoj Regwal, Sunil Panwar, Sandeep Sahni, Rajat Aggarwal, Vijay Ramola, Gambhir Panwar, OP Uniyal, Madan Mohan Sharma, Naveen, Dependra Bhandari, Sumit Dayal, Uttam Singh Pursoda, Sunil Panwar, Bhavna Goswami, Ankur Saini, Harpal Khatri, Manoj Bijalwan, Laxman Negi and many others.
