Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday, 22 March, officially declared 23 March as a holiday in the state, commemorating the death anniversary of Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh.
A resolution has also been passed in the Punjab Assembly to install statues of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Dr BR Ambedkar.
Bhagwant Mann had taken oath as the 17th Chief Minister of Punjab on 16 March at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, becoming the first non-Congress, non-Akali CM of the state.
In the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday, the newly elected chief minister expressed that this holiday would encourage the people of the state to visit Khatkar Kalan to pay homage to the renowned freedom fighter.
A photograph of the freedom fighter was also installed in the CM's office at his request to government establishments to replace the CM's photograph with those of Bhagat Singh and Dr BR Ambedkar.
Mann has always idolised the revolutionary and wears a yellow turban as a 'tribute'. In fact, he had requested the people across the state to attend his swearing-in ceremony wearing 'basanti' (yellow) turbans and draping yellow shawls or stoles, to signify respect to Bhagat Singh.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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