Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday asked citizens to follow the ideals of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who immortalised himself by laying down his life for liberating the country from foreign rule.
"The way he (Bhagat Singh) condemned meaningless rituals associated with organised religion and his brilliant exposition of his stand on atheism in his article 'Why I am an atheist?' testified to his abiding humanism," the Prime Minister said in his message on the occasion of the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
"A compassionate man, his sole aim in life was to see India as an independent country with all its citizens enjoying equal social, political and economic rights. On the birth centenary of his great hero of our motherland, let us follow his ideals to build the India of his dreams," Singh said.
The Prime Minister also greeted all those associated with the Freedom Movement Memorial Committee involved in the celebrations to mark the birth centenary.