The Chandigarh Airport Will Be Renamed After Bhagat Singh, PM Narendra Modi Announced.

The action is perceived as the BJP outdoing the Aam Aadmi Party in terms of honouring the martyred legend’s legacy.

New Delhi, 25^th September: The airport in Chandigarh will now be known as Bhagat Singh International Airport, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced today during his monthly radio address, “Mann Ki Baat.“ The action is being viewed as the BJP’s attempt to outdo the Aam Aadmi Party in preserving the legacy of the martyred legend.

The Chandigarh airport will now bear Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s name, Prime Minister Modi announced, “in honour of the outstanding freedom fighter.”

The announcement was welcomed by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who noted that a long-standing demand of Punjabis had been met.

“Our efforts have finally paid off. We respect the decision to name the Chandigarh airport in Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s honour, speaking on behalf of the entire Punjab “In a Punjabi tweet, Mr Mann stated.

Dushyant Chautala, the deputy chief minister of Haryana, also praised the news.

According to Mr Chautala, the governments of Punjab and Haryana previously decided to honour Bhagat Singh by renaming the Chandigarh International Airport. The choice was made following a meeting between Bhagwant Mann and Dushyant Chautala last month regarding this matter.

In reference to their meeting, Mr Mann stated that the Punjab government had also written to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry requesting that the airport be named after the illustrious freedom fighter before his birth anniversary on September 28. Bhagat Singh’s birthday falls on that day.

Mr Mann expressed his happiness that the Prime Minister’s announcement on the Mann Ki Baat programme was the result of their efforts.

With much fanfare and ceremony, the Punjab Chief Minister began his tenure by paying symbolic homage to the legendary freedom fighter. At Khatkar Kalan, Bhagat Singh’s ancestral village, AAP hosted Bhagwant Mann’s swearing-in ceremony. The colour “Basanti (yellow)” covered the entire space.

Bhagwant Mann, a comic-turned-politician, requested that attendees wear “Basanti dupattas and turbans” to the oath, and yellow turbans, which are his trademark, flooded the village Khatkar Kalan in response. The venue’s decor and colour scheme were both yellow. Bhagat Singh once wore turbans in the hue that came to represent revolution.

Bhagwant Mann made the announcement just a few days after taking office. He said that every year, March 23, the anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom, will be observed as a public holiday.

Bhagat Singh, who is well-liked by young people in rural North India, has a strong legacy that AAP has carefully planned to claim.

Additionally, the suggestion to rename the airport in the union territory after Bhagat Singh has been made before.

The airport should be known as “Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali,” according to a 2017 demand from the Punjab government.

A resolution on the subject was unanimously approved by the Haryana Assembly in April 2016 under the leadership of the BJP. The state government had stated that it had no issues with the renaming, but that the word “Mohali” should be removed.

The action by the BJP state government was then seen as a power play against the concurrently ruling Congress in Punjab. The Punjab government put up signs reading “Mohali airport” after the airport terminal building in Mohali, Punjab, collapsed, upsetting the Haryana government.

The opposition claimed that the Haryana BJP government did not want to rename the building after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, which caused a commotion in the Rajya Sabha the following year, in 2017.

The Chandigarh airport’s naming has been the subject of controversy, CPM lawmaker Ritabrata Banerjee had stated at the time.

“Although the Haryana government, specifically the Haryana Chief Minister, said “no”, the Punjab government had already agreed that the airport would be named after Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh. They desire to give Mangal Sein’s name to the airport, “said he.

Asserting that the BJP intended to name it after the party’s former Haryana Chief Minister Mangal Sein, the Congress joined in.

However, the BJP refuted the claim, claiming they had never said it.

A joint venture between the governments of Punjab and Haryana and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will build a $485 million airport.