Gujarat Governor, Swamy, others to be honoured by PM on JP’s anniversary

New Delhi

Four sitting governors and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy will be among the 16 persons who will be honoured on the birth anniversary of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for stoutly “defending democracy” during the Emergency era.

JP’s 113rd anniversary falls on October 11.

The four sitting governors are — Om Prakash Kohli (Gujarat), Balaramdas Tandon (Chhattisgarh), Vajubhai Vala (Karnataka) and Kalyan Singh (Rajasthan) — all of whom have been BJP leaders.

Others to be honoured are former Governor Bhai Mahaveer, NCP leader D P Tripathy, senior BJP leaders Karia Munda, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, former Union Minister Jayawantiben Mehta, journalists Virendra Kapoor, Rambahadur Rai and Kotamraju Vikram Rao, Gandhian professor Ramji Singh, Eswar das Mahajan and Kameshwar Paswan.

The 16 persons will be honoured by the Prime Minister at an event being organised by Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan Jayanti Utsav Samiti at the Vigyan Bhawan here.

“They are being honoured for stoutly defending democracy and the rights of the people guaranteed by the Constitution of India during the dark period of Emergency between 1975 and 1977,” the government said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, “Emergency during which the constitutional rights of the people of the country were subverted, remains as an indelible blot in the post-Independence history of our country.

“People of the country revolted against this authoritarianism through ballot in 1977. Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan was at the forefront of defending civil liberties and democracy.”

He said that as a befitting tribute to the late leader and to remind the present generations of the excesses of emergency, the Samiti thought it would be appropriate to honour the valiant defenders of democracy on the occasion.

Members of this Samiti, which is organising the event, are Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Naidu, Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, Rajkumar Bhatia, Mahesh Sharma and Satpal Jain.

BJP plans to celebrate JP’s anniversary as ‘Save Democracy Day’ in a big way across the country and highlight his role in opposing Emergency including in his home state Bihar.

BJP Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh, claimed, that it “will expose some people, who for their political gains have joined hands with Congress, whom JP opposed all along.”

Around 800 detained under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) will attend the function.

Former deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, who played a stellar role during Emergency would also grace the occasion, along with Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.

‘Loktantra Praharis’ being honoured will also share their experiences with the participants besides interacting with them.

PTI