SSB Raising Day to be held in MoS Ajay Mishra's turf Lakhimpur Kheri this year

Border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will hold its annual Raising Day celebrations in Union Minister Ajay Mishra 'Teni's political turf Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh next month, officials said. The mega event is expected to be held on December 20 in the district whose border runs along the fenceless India-Nepal international frontier.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to be the chief guest of the 59th SSB Raising Day, where marching and cultural contingents of the force will present a parade dressed in ceremonial regalia after they gather there from across the country.

Lakhimpur Kheri serves as the base for sector headquarters under the Lucknow frontier of the force apart from some other border battalions.


Uttar Pradesh shares a 599.3-km-long border with Nepal, touching Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Sidhharthnagar and Maharajganj districts.

On the directions of the Union government, all the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and defence forces have now begun celebrating their Raising Day events outside Delhi.

The Border Security Force (BSF) celebrated its Raising Day on December 1 last year along the India-Pakistan border in Jaisalmer. This time, it will hold the event in Punjab's Amritsar on December 4 .

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) held its event on October 24 in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh.

The SSB, like other CAPFs, had been holding this event in Delhi until now at its battalion base in Ghitorni.

The about 80,000 personnel-strong SSB has been guarding the 1,751-km Indo-Nepal border since 2001 and the 699-km Indo-Bhutan border since 2004.

It was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression under the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and later its command was transferred to the Union home ministry.

Mishra, 62, is a two-time BJP MP from the Kheri Lok Sabha seat and is the Union Minister of State for Home.

On October 3 last year, eight people, including four farmers, were killed in violence at Tikunia village in Lakhimpur Kheri during a protest by farmers against the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

In this case, Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra was arrested as the main accused.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated, according to the Uttar Pradesh Police FIR.

Following the incident, the driver and two BJP workers were allegedly lynched by angry farmers.

The Supreme Court on October 17 granted two weeks to the Uttar Pradesh government to file its response on a plea filed by Ashish Mishra, who is seeking bail in the case.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had on July 26 rejected his bail plea.