Parliament Bhagat Will Wear Turban

B4ND4 · December 10, 2007

Parliament Bhagat will wear turban

S. Satyanarayanan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 10

The Parliament Secretariat has decided to depict Shaheed Bhagat Singh as a Sikh, with turban, in the statue to be installed on the Parliament premises.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on installation of portraits/statues of national leaders in Parliament complex three days ago, senior Congress MP and member of the committee Karan Singh told The Tribune here today.

"There is no controversy whatsoever… A decision in principle has been taken to install a statue of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and he (Bhagat Singh) will be depicted as a Sikh," Karan Singh said.

A controversy was brewing up following reports in some newspapers that the martyr's statue would depict him as a clean-shaven person donning a British hat.

The Shiromani Akali Dal had in particular raised the issue and wanted Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to intervene and ensure that Bhagat Singh is depicted in the statue as a Sikh with turban and beard.

In fact, on November 20, members of Parliament belonging to the SAD, including Sukhbir Singh Badal and S.S. Dhindsa, had written a letter to the Speaker in this regard.

"The history of India's independence shows that Shaheed-e-Azam always donned turban and had grown hair. On the other hand the attempt to portray him in a British hat and clean-shaven look, would hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs worldover," SAD MPs had said in their letter.

Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal expressed happiness over the decision. "Bhagat Singh was born a Sikh and gave supreme sacrifice for the country as a Sikh. However, once in order to camouflage the British forces he travelled in train and had to forcibly cut his hair. This one stand-alone incident cannot represent or describe his overall self and his lifetime contribution," Atwal said.

On September 29, the Lok Sabha Speaker, at a book release function, disclosed the decision to install an 18-feet tall statue of Bhagat Singh on the premises of Parliament. The statue of Bhagat Singh will be put up near the statues of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indira Gandhi and Abul Kalam Azad. The statues of only five eminent persons are 18-ft high in the Parliament complex.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071211/main8.htm