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Prayagraj is blessed as its soil has the blood of freedom fighters: Smriti Irani

Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani on Saturday said that Prayagraj is a blessed land as its soil has the blood of freedom fighters who laid down their lives to secure the freedom of the country from British rule

Updated on: Aug 14, 2022, 24:55:17 IST
By , PRAYAGRAJ
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Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani on Saturday said that Prayagraj is a blessed land as its soil has the blood of freedom fighters who laid down their lives to secure the freedom of the country from British rule. She said that it was her good fortune that she had an opportunity to visit the place where Chandra Shekhar Azad attained martyrdom.

Union minister Smriti Irani riding a scooty during the rally in Prayagraj on Saturday. (HT PHOTO)
Union minister Smriti Irani riding a scooty during the rally in Prayagraj on Saturday. (HT PHOTO)

Irani expressed these thoughts during a programme organised as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ at Chandra Shekhar Azad Park. She also urged participants to raise slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

During the event, the union minister also honoured the families of 16 freedom fighters and performed the ‘Godh Bharai’ ceremony of a group of expecting mothers registered at anganwadi kendras of Prayagraj.

Irani said that her only wish was that the pregnant women taking part in this ‘baby shower’ should deliver daughters like ‘Rani Lakshmi Bai’ and sons like brave Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad.

The minister, who reached the venue on a scooty, first paid floral tributes at the statue of Amar Shaheed Chandra Shekhar Azad.

On the occasion, she also distributed free school kits to four girl students and appealed to everyone to take an oath that in the coming 25 years, they will contribute towards making a ‘Golden India’. She said that would be only possible when every household hoists the tricolour atop their house during ‘Amrit Mahotsav’, she added.

During the event, MP Keshari Devi Patel, MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi, BJP city unit president Ganesh Kesarwani, district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri, CDO Shipu Giri, DPRO Alok Sinha and others were present.

BOX:

Irani rides scooty to Azad Park

PRAYAGRAJ: A Trianga bike rally was organised by the Prantiya Rakshak Dal in which minister Irani also participated. As she reached Prayagraj and neared the All Saints’ Cathedral, she asked for a scooty and drove the two-wheeler herself to Chandra Shekhar Azad Park. Initially, she started riding a scooty without a number plate but soon shifted to another one. The minister also insisted that everyone in the rally wears a helmet. Irani was accompanied by Phulpur MPs Keshari Devi Patel on one scooty and Rita Bahuguna Joshi, MP from Allahabad parliamentary seat, on another. The two-wheeler procession stopped for some time at Subhash Chowk where the union minister paid tributes to the statue of Subhash Chandra Bose. The rally then proceeded to Azad Park. PRD personnel, scouts, employees of the district panchayat raj department and many women participated in this two-wheeler rally.