PM Modi to inaugurate Chauri Chaura event in UP tomorrow
LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Chauri Chaura centenary celebrations at Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh on February 4 via video conferencing.
The Uttar Pradesh government is preparing to create a world record during the Chauri Chaura centenary celebrations, when tens of thousands of children from all districts of the state will recite the Vande Mataram from 10am on February 3 to 12 noon on February 4.
Around 50,000 students will recite the national song in a bid to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. Currently, this record is held by a gathering of 20,000 who sang it together, said Vinay Kumar Pandey, Uttar Pradesh’s director of secondary education.
The most people singing live on a radio broadcast is 10,793, achieved by Jingying Group (China) in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China, on 1 October 2018, said Amit Kumar Agnihotri, assistant director of the UP cultural directorate.
“The state government has set a target of 50,000 to be on the safer side to avoid any lastminute glitch,” he said.
February 4 marks the centenary of a landmark event in the freedom struggle that took place at Chauri Chaura village in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, known as United Province in British India, when a large group of protesters participating in Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement clashed with the police, who opened fire. In retaliation, the protestors set fire to a police station. The incident left three civilians and 22 policemen dead. Days later, a saddened Gandhi halted the noncooperation movement.
As part of their preparations for the centenary, thousands of students are making videos of themselves singing the first stanza of Vande Mataram, with a hand raised in salute. They are required to send these clips to their schools, after which these videos will be uploaded on a link that will be opened by the Guinness Book of World Records.
“The Guinness world record team will share a link at 10am on February 3 for the schools to upload all videos by February 4 till 12 noon. They will assess the videos, and after verification, issue a certificate,” said Mukesh Kumar Meshram, principal secretary of the Uttar Pradesh government.
Additional chief secretary (secondary education) Aradhana Shukla said: “We are expecting a large number of videos from schools across UP.”