Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday address the closing ceremony of the year-long 400th birth anniversary celebrations of Lachit Barphukana, the 17th-century army general of the Ahom Kingdom of Assam who defeated the Mughals. The Prime Minister is constantly striving to honor the unsung heroes in a befitting manner and accordingly the country is celebrating 2022 as the 400th birth anniversary year of Barphukan, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement. .
Barphukan (24 November 1622 – 25 April 1672) was a famous general in the royal army of the Ahom Kingdom of Assam who defeated the Mughals and successfully stopped their ever-expanding ambitions under Aurangzeb. Barphukan inspired the Assamese soldiers in the Battle of Saraighat fought in 1671 and inflicted a crushing and humiliating defeat on the Mughals, the statement said. The heroic struggle of Barphukan and his army remains one of the most inspiring military acts of resistance in the history of our country, it said.
In the recent past, the prime minister has participated in several programs on unsung heroes. In November, Modi attended a public program ‘Mangarh Dham ki Gaurav Gatha’ and paid tribute to freedom fighter Bhil Govind Guru. In the same month, he also unveiled a 108-foot bronze statue of Sri Nadaprabhu Kempegowda in Bengaluru, commemorating the contribution of Kempegowda, the founder of the city.
In July, Modi launched the year-long celebration of the 125th birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter Alluri Sitaram Raju in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, while in June 2022 the Prime Minister inaugurated the “Kranti Gatha”, a newly created underground gallery of Indian revolutionaries. A British-era bunker at Raj Bhavan Mumbai and in November last year, the Prime Minister inaugurated the Birsa Minda Memorial in Ranchi.
Ten tribal freedom fighter museums are also being built across the country to preserve the memories of tribal freedom fighters from various states and regions. In February last year, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the Maharaja Suheldev Memorial at Bahrajch in Uttar Pradesh. In February 2019, Modi laid the foundation stone of the ‘Battles of Panipat Museum’, Panipat to honor the heroes of the various battles of Panipat. In 2015, he issued a commemorative coin of one hundred rupees and a circulation coin of five rupees on Rani Gaidinlia.
