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Bhagat Singh’s plaque in Parliament

Kuldip Nayar’s article “Sacrifice transcends borders; No sign of hanging left in Lahore” (March 23) fills an Indian’s heart with a deep sense of pain and agony. Don’t Pakistanis know this much of history that the three revolutionaries; Bhagat Singh and his comrades, Sukhdev and Rajguru laid their lives for the liberation of a great land which included both India and Pakistan?

The revolutionary-trio would have never imagined that a day would come when a part of India with Lahore in it, would be separated from the great land and be called Pakistan. If the Pakistani authorities and people have forgotten Bhagat Singh and his comrades, one can argue that this may be a part of their strategy against the heroes of an enemy country.

It may be a mischievous way of distorting history by destroying the physical symbols; the cells and the place where the scaffold for hanging was put up. I, however, fail to understand why Indian authorities are not coming forward to put a copper plaque at a place in the Central Hall of Parliament. The government must realise that physical symbols of history are of great value in keeping the history alive. The presence of the copper plaque in the memory of the great revolutionary in Parliament will inspire one and all to work selflessly for the nation.

JAGDISH MITTER GANDHI, Gurgaon

Don’t delay civic polls The Hooda government, by notifying seven new Municipal Corporations in the state, thereby increasing their total tally in the state to nine, has made Haryana surpass the neighbouring state of Punjab which has got only five such large municipal bodies (Yoginder Gupta’s article, “A step forward”, March 22).  But the question is if the state government was so determined to establish these new MCs, why did it issue a notification only at the eleventh hour i.e. when the elections to erstwhile municipal councils/committees and panchayati raj bodies situated within limits of such new bodies are due?  Why was the decision in respect of formation of these new MCs not taken along with that of Gurgaon Municipal Corporation two years back in 2008?  Now with the implementation of the latest decision, the same exercise would begin afresh which means further delay in holding of the civic elections. In October 2006, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court made it clear to all the states and union territories that local body elections must be completed before the expiry of the duration of the five-year period. It would be wise if the Hooda government expedites the whole process and ensures timely elections to these new bodies considering the fact that even after two years of notification, Gurgaon MC elections are yet to be held.  The delegation of charge of new MCs to Deputy Commissioners concerned for a long period goes against the spirit of the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 which recognised municipal government as the third tier of the government and mandated governance of local bodies by duly elected representatives. HEMANT KUMAR, Advocate, Ambala City