'Tiranga bike rally a govt event, not by BJP': Centre's invitation to all MPs

The Bharatiya Janata Party has made elaborate plans for the week-long Independence Day celebrations beginning August 9. The Narendra Modi government is celebrating India's 75th year of independence under the initiative 'Azadi Ka Amritsav Mahotsav'.

Union minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday urged the parliamentarians of all political parties to attend the 'Tiranga bike rally' to be undertaken from Red Fort to Parliament on Wednesday.

Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi stressed that it was a programme of ministry of culture and not of his party as he asked MPs of all parties to join the exercise at 8.30 am.(HT Photo/Raj K Raj)

After the BJP's parliamentary party meet, Joshi said the event was being organised by the culture ministry and not by his party BJP.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has made elaborate plans for the week-long Independence Day celebrations beginning August 9. The Narendra Modi government is celebrating India's 75th year of independence under the initiative 'Azadi Ka Amritsav Mahotsav'.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi and other BJP leaders changed the display images of their social media handles to a tricolour as an initiative to celebrate the national flag.

Noting that August 2 happens to be the birth anniversary of Pinagali Venkaiah, who designed the national flag, the PM urged people to use an image of the Tricolour as their profile pictures of their social media accounts between August 2 and 15.

The PM also urged people to hoist the national flag in each home as part of the “Har Ghar Tiranga” initiative under which the government aims to cover over 200 million households between August 13 and 15 in monthly radio broadcast, Mann Ki Baat on Sunday.

(With inputs from PTI)