Unsung heroes of freedom struggle find place at city museum

Jalandhar, Sep 28: Unsung 'heroes' of India's freedom struggle have found their place at a city museum which exhibits their pictures along with descriptions collected from various countries.

The museum, housed in Desh Bhagat Yadgar hall here, showcases pictures of freedom fighters and martyrs who participated in the country's freedom struggle starting from the revolt of 1857 to Independence in 1947.

"The museum exhibits pictures of 'heroes' from 1857 to 1947, who are slowly fading from the public imagination," General Secretary, Desh Bhagat Yadgar Committee, Raghuvir Kaur said.

"We have pictures from the struggle of 1857 and Kuka movement of 1872, and pictures of revolutionaries from Bengal, Maharashtra and Kanpur," Kaur said.

Established in 1991, the museum also contains pictures of participants of 'Pagdi Sambhal Jatta' movement which was started by Sardar Ajit Singh, uncle of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

There are pictures of participants of Ghadar movement, Babbar Akali movement, Kirti party, and of the freedom fighters associated with Naujawan Bharat Sabha which was founded by Bhagat Singh. Kaur said the pictures have been collected with great difficulties.

They have been gathered from various parts of the country and from London, Canada, America and Pakistan's Lahore jail. There are also many sketches of freedom fighters, which were made with the help of the elderly people in their villages who provided descriptions.

Some photographs in the museum have been taken from the contemporary newspapers while some have been taken from the documents of the cases against them.

Kaur also made an appeal to people for donation of pictures and items belonging to the freedom fighters to the museum.

The museum, which runs without any government aid, aims to provide information about the freedom fighters to youth and also help students in their research, she said.

"When the museum was started in 1991, we only had a few pictures, but in the last 3-4 years we have obtained about 300-350 pictures and the work is still in progress," she added.

PTI