Smriti Irani to celebrate I-Day with soldiers posted in Siachen

The government has instructed all women ministers to visit border areas and to tie Rakhi to military personnel on 18th August.

Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani will be visiting the Siachen border to celebrate Independence Day with soldiers. Apart from Irani,  Maneka Gandhi, Uma Bharati and other women ministers are also likely to visit border areas. However, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj may be spared due to her health problems, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters on Monday.

Celebrities like Asha Bhosle, Kumar Shanu and actor- turned- politician Manoj Tiwari may be roped in to cheer up soldiers posted in border areas.

The fortnight-long celebrations begin on August 9. The idea behind it is to integrate the joy of independence with the spirit of a vibrant and young India. All 75 Union ministers will visit two places each that are associated with the independence movement and freedom fighters. BJP office bearers will also accompany them or visit other places, Naidu said.

The Home Minister will also visit the birth place of Birsa Munda in Jharkhand while Jaitley will go to Jammu to pay tribute to Prem Nath Dogra, the Praja Parishad founder who sought Jammu and Kashmir’s complete integration with India.

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan will travel to UP to pay tribute to socialist icon Ram Manohar Lohia while his colleague Narendra Singh Tomar will remember first Prime Minister Jawahalal Nehru in Allahabad.

All the ministers will commemorate other leaders associated with the place and its neighbourhood they visit, Naidu said. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will go to Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, where Mahatma Gandhi lived for years. The Government has decided to kick off the celebrations from one of the crucial poll-bound states, Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, political observers feel that with an eye on upcoming Assembly polls in five states, the under-fire NDA government at the Centre has decided to drum up ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism’.

Naidu, who is Information and Broadcasting Minister, said monuments associated with the freedom struggle will be illuminated in tricolour and he will also write to media houses to give these events publicity. Party MPs will carry out ‘tiranga yatra’ on two-wheelers and speak about 70 steps taken by the government to bring in good government, he said.

Doordarshan and AIR will broadcast speeches of freedom fighters, he added.