Photos of Bhagat Singh, kin restored at Mohalla Clinic

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 29

Portraits and photographs of Bhagat Singh, his uncle Ajit Singh and mother Vidyavati were restored at the Khatkar Kalan Mohalla Clinic after two days of whirlwind action on the issue.

Restoration of photographs, which symbolise Khatkar Kalan’s historic legacy as a bastion of freedom fighters, brought cheer to activists, intellectuals and residents of the village. They had demanded that the photos of Bhagat Singh and his relatives be restored at the health centre as they were an integral part of the ancestral village and its identity.

On Monday, a group of students and activists belonging to the Punjab Students’ Union had blackened Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s photo outside the Mohalla Clinic in protest against the removal of Bhagat Singh’s portraits.

They also hung a small portrait of Bhagat Singh on the outer wall of the clinic. On Tuesday, three activists were arrested and later released.

The district administration restored the pictures of Bhagat Singh and his kin - uncle Ajit Singh and Mata Vidyavati - on the clinic’s outer wall on Tuesday.

DC Navjot Pal Randhawa said the portraits were removed temporarily as the renovation work going on at the building. Restoration got delayed due to the ongoing work.

Members of the Punjab Students’ Union said the students were released late on Tuesday evening.

Khatkar Kalan’s historic legacy

Restoration of photographs, which symbolise Khatkar Kalan’s historic legacy as a bastion of freedom fighters, brought cheer to activists, intellectuals and residents of the village. They had demanded that the photos of Bhagat Singh and his relatives be restored at the health centre.