The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that the stature of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was “far above any award or title or status” when asked why the freedom fighters had not been given the martyr status.
Responding to a question by BJP’s Jyotirmay Singh Mahto, Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra said in a written response, “Their martyrdom in the supreme national cause of Independence is a fact and is not dependent on the presumed presence or absence of official records. Their stature is far above any award or title or status accorded in this regard. The nation will always be grateful to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who laid down their lives for a better future of India. Their names will always be written in golden words in the annals of Indian history.”
“The heroes who lost their lives in the freedom struggle including Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru during the national freedom struggle have become martyrs for the cause of attaining the Independence of India. Martyrdom of these freedom fighters and their invaluable contribution in India’s freedom struggle form an inalienable part of the discourse of our fight for freedom and is well known in our history,” it stated.
The reply added that the ‘Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom struggle from 1857 to 1947, published by the Ministry of Culture, had recorded the names of all these Freedom fighters, including Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.
‘No such official nomenclature’
On December 8, 2021, the MHA informed the Rajya Sabha that there was no such official nomenclature as ‘martyrs’.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, when asked whether the government had any plan regarding the status of martyr, said, “There is no such official nomenclature. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued instructions to issue Operational Casualty Certificate to the next of kin of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles (AR) personnel who are killed in action.”
