Odisha: Special Arrangements for Celebration of I-Day and 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has changed the venue of state level Independence Day Celebrations from the Mahatma Gandhi Marg to IDCO Exhibition Ground this year. As this year marks the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the government has made special arrangements for the celebration of both the occasions.

The venue of state level Independence Day celebration has been changed in order to host an exhibition to mark the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, informed Additional Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy.

Mahatma Gandhi had stayed for 82 days in Odisha during his eight trips to the State. The places where he visited treasure many memories of the great freedom fighter. Mahatma Gandhi had always a special place for Odisha.

The exhibition will be organized to spread his ideology among the people. Besides, Odisha will follow the national model in celebrations of Independence Day and Republic Day, the senior official said.

Meanwhile, the ruling Biju Janata Dal’s spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra came down heavily on the BJP for criticizing the government for changing the venue of Independence Day celebrations.

In a befitting reply to Odisha BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan’s comments, Patra said that in a democracy it is always expected that the states follow the national model especially in National Day celebrations such as Independence Day and Republic Day. Republic Day is parade based in Delhi and Independence Day is speech based. During the Republic Day celebrations, the President takes the salute from the armed forces parade and the Prime Minister delivers the speech from the Red Fort on Independence Day, he said.

In a press statement, the BJD spokesperson said, “Odisha similarly was contemplating following the national model. Therefore from this year, Odisha will be following the national model of having speech-based format by the Chief Minister as it is being done in Delhi by the Prime Minister. But unfortunately, the BJP and its leader Prithviraj Harichandan have not been able to understand the national model and Odisha’s intention of following the national model. If they are unaware about the national model of Independence Day, since their party’s Government is in power in Delhi, they can find out about the model.”

He further said that this year marks the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and in order to commemorate his role in the freedom struggle and also the role of Odisha in the freedom struggle of India for independence, the Government is undertaking exhibitions on a bigger scale at the Exhibition Ground.

Therefore, the Exhibition Ground in Bhubaneswar is the best venue in this regard.

“However, the BJP and its leader Prithviraj Harichandan indulging in petty politics on such sensitive matters such as the Independence Day celebrations, is highly unfortunate. Instead of playing politics, BJP and Mr Harichandan should support Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikji’s suggestion of incorporating the ‘AHIMSA’ concept of Mahatma Gandhi in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution as well as be signatories to the one lakh signatures campaign that is being undertaken to exert demand to introduce the same in the Preamble of the Constitution,” the BJD spokesperson added.

Notably, Odisha BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan had questioned the Odisha Government’s decision to change the venue of I-Day celebration. He had asked why the Government of Odisha changed the precedence of 72 years by firstly changing the venue and secondly, doing away with the mass parade.