Congress to hold events to celebrate 75th year of independence from October 2

The Congress will hold a series of events across the country from October 2 to mark the 75th year of India's independence where the sacrifices of those participating in the freedom struggle will be highlighted. This was decided at a meeting of a party committee chaired by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, where it was suggested that those who sided with the British during the freedom movement also need to be exposed.

The 11-member committee was constituted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to plan and coordinate the year-long celebrations of 75th anniversary of India's independence.

The committee, which on Tuesday held its first meeting, decided to form separate sub-groups to chalk out detailed programmes of the year-long celebrations.


The first such programme would be organised on October 2, said a party leader.

During the two-hour meeting at Singh's residence, it was suggested that while there is need to highlight the British freedom movement history there is also the need to highlight how the East India company took over the country, starting with 1857.

It was further suggested to highlight all such places of historical importance like Prayagraj, Sabarmati Ashram and Champaran and programmes organised at all such places.

The members suggested that while there is need to highlight how the British divided the country on the basis of caste, class and religion, it was also necessary to expose all such people who sided with the British during the freedom movement.

The meeting which was held physically was attended among others by senior party leaders Meira Kumar, A K Antony, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Mukul Wasnik, Pramod Tiwari, Pradyut Bordoloi and K R Ramesh Kumar.