Sonepat village offers land for Banda Bahadur memorial
CHANDIGARH: The panchayat of Sehri-Khanda village in Sonepat district - where legendary Sikh warrior Banda Bahadur raised his army and set up his first army headquarters - has offered land to the Haryana government to set up a memorial at the village.
Several of the panchayat members, however, rued that their repeated demands to have a memorial had not been paid any heed in the past, hence the offer to give the village common land to the government for the purpose.
The village panchayat had also written to the government in this context a few days ago.
Referring to various initiatives taken by the Punjab government to preserve the memory of Banda Bahadur, including the memorial at Chappar Chiri in SAS Nagar, registrar of companies (RoC) at Chandigarh, Raj Singh, who himself belongs to Sehri-Khanda village and the family whose ancestors hosted the great warrior in 1709 for about nine months, said that it was unfortunate that the Haryana government was yet to build a memorial.
The registrar of companies, who is also a senior member of the Banda Bahadur International Foundation which organised several functions to mark the 300th martyrdom day of the warrior in the region last month, further bemoaned that the chair set up in the name of Banda Bahadur in Kurukshetra University also continued to be defunct.
He said that it was at Sehri Khanda that Banda Bahadur (also known as Banda Bairagi), who was a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, set up his army headquarters and fought the Mughal oppression.
“I, along with former Rajya Sabha member from Haryana Tirlochan Singh, have been urging different authorities over the years to set up a befitting memorial in the village, but a concrete effort is yet to be seen’’, he said.
Tirlochan Singh, who also served as chairman of the National Commission for Minorities in the past, told HT that he had twice met chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and urged him to get the memorial built. The CM had given him an assurance in this regard, he added.
“I have also written to the Maharashtra government to set up a memorial there as Banda Bahadur hailed from Nanded,” he added.
THE LEGENDARY SIKH WARRIOR HAD RAISED HIS ARMY AND SET UP ITS FIRST HEADQUARTERS AT SEHRI-KHANDA VILLAGE IN THE DISTRICT DURING THE 18TH CENTURY