Muzaffarnagar, 2 October (IANS) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami paid tribute to the martyrs of the state movement at a function held at Rampur Tiha, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
The tribute marked the memory of those who lost their lives in the traded police firing incident of October 2, 1994 during the movement for a separate state.
Rampur Tirha Firing referred to unprotected police firing on unarmed state workers at Rampur Tirha in Muzaffarnagar, when activists were on the way to Delhi to stage a dharna at Raj Ghat on Gandhi Jayati.
The incident killed six activists, while several women were raped and chaos was tampered with. At that time, Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing the incident, CM Dhami said, “I pay tribute to the immortal martyrs who sacrificed my life for the formation of Uttarakhand: Ravindra Rawat, Satinder Chauhan, Girish Bhadhari, Rajesh Lakhar, Surya Prakash Thapliyal, Ashok Keshav, Rajesh Neg, and others.”
He said that Rampur Tiraha fired on the “most cruel incident” of the state’s movement, saying, “Even today, the memory of the incident of that brutal firing and the dignity of women sends the backbone of every Uttarakhand resident.”
In the then Samajwadi Party government, CM Dhami accused peaceful protesters of torture.
He said, “Responsible for protecting the public, public representatives crossed all the boundaries of violence. The way the SP government persecuted peaceful protesters, those wounds are still fresh in the hearts of a resident of every Uttarakhand,” he said.
The Chief Minister also recalled other incidents of police firing during the agitation. Referring to the events of Khatima (September 1, 1994) and Mussoorie (September 2, 1994), he said, “The way the government tried to suppress the protest is unforgettable.”
Talking to reporters after the events, he said that October 2, 1994, will always be written in the history of Uttarakhand in “black letters”.
He said, “It will always remind us how our martyrs, our mothers and sisters sacrificed their lives for the self-respect of Uttarakhand. It will remind us how much they struggled, and the generations to come will also remember it.”
He insisted that the formation of Uttarakhand was possible only due to the sacrifices and conflicts of the movement workers.
He said, “Our government is constantly committed to the welfare of the families of workers and martyrs, and is taking all possible steps to protect its interests and respect,” he said.
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SD/SVN