The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Time to remember our martyrs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Time to remember our martyrs

B. Madhu Gopal

Rare photographs of the pre-Independence era on display

- Photo:C.V.Subrahmanyam

inspiring: A visitor going round the ‘Nirdhar Darshan’ exhibition in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Wish to take a peek into the struggles undergone by our martyrs, and the supreme sacrifices made by them in the British Raj?

Proceed to the Youth Hostel building (near YMCA) on the Beach Road. Rare photographs of the pre-Independence era on display at the ‘Nirdhar Darshan’ are sure to make your blood boil against the tyranny of the British rulers, and make you look up with awe at the sheer determination of our ancestors to oppose the colonial rulers against all odds.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of India’s struggle for Independence, the 100th birth anniversary of Shahid Bhagat Singh and the Diamond Jubilee (60th year) of India’s Independence.

‘Nirdhar Darshan’

The Government of India is organising the ‘Nirdhar Darshan’ as part of the year-long celebrations, to commemorate the historic events, throughout the country.

The pictures blown up and neatly displayed on large exhibition sets with accompanying captions and write-ups capture the spirit of the various phases in the freedom struggle and important events from the First War of Indian Independence in 1857 till the nation achieved Independence in 1947.

The display begins with how the East India Company came for trade and plundered India’s 4,000-year cottage industry. A replica of the Enfield gun in its original size (about 5’5”) is also on display. The gun, procured by the Ordinance Department, had triggered the First War of Independence. The grease, used for the gun, was obtained from cows and pigs and evoked strong protests from Hindus and Muslims respectively.

The Jallianwala Baugh massacre, hanging of soldiers, Mahatma Gandhi picking up a handful of salt to disobey the Salt Law, Netaji Subhaschandra Bose reviewing a parade of the Azad Hind Fauz and pictures of our martyrs are some of the pictures on display.

The ‘Nirdhar Darshan’ was inaugurated on August 9, 2007 in Mumbai to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Quit India Movement. The expo had started its journey on October 2, 2007.

The exhibition was inaugurated by District Revenue Officer S. Satyanarayana at the Youth Hostel building on Friday in presence of freedom fighters Lingam Seetha Devi, K. Appa Rao and SETVIZ CEO Sudhkar. It will be on till Monday.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh