“Our feet on carpets, their boots on the ground.
Our days are steady, their new challenges unravel.
Our nights blissful, stressful.
It’s our life to live because it’s theirs to give.
The heroes should not remain unsung because we can’t imagine their plight.
Our country and Tricolour stronger and bolder.
Because theirs is the fight. The fight of a soldier.”
The above-mentioned poem penned down by Bollywood King Shahrukh Khan is self-explanatory whom the poem was referring to and what the contribution, sacrifices, and dedication were recited about. It is so easy to sit at home, offices or anywhere in our comfort zone and speak whatever good or bad we want to speak about our nation or any ongoing national issues/problems rather than fighting unconditionally for nation’s protection.
We are busy here in our daily chores; we are enjoying our life here without any worry of other opposition nation fighting with us because our soldiers 24*7 working for us in every season, on every holiday and every day and night without putting any terms and conditions.
For their tremendous sacrifices, for their unpaid love for the nation, for their irrevocable devotion towards nation, we honour them by giving a day dedicated to them. January 30th, every year is celebrated as Martyr’s Day to honour those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation. This special day also called as ‘Shaheed Diwas‘ is celebrated twice in a year — one on January 30th in memory of Gandhi Ji (As he is one of the greatest freedom fighters who fought in a non-violent manner against British and brought independence to India); other on March 23rd in memory of 3 extraordinary revolutionary fighters of India (Bhagat Singh, who died in mere age of 23, Shivaram Rajguru, and Sukhdev Thakur).
REASON OF CELEBRATION OF MARTYR’S DAY ON JANUARY 30th
This is the date when Nathuram Godse shot down Gandhi Ji when he was busy in his evening prayer. The immense contribution of Mahatma Gandhi towards bringing independence to the nation is irreplaceable. He was a great freedom fighter who fought his war on the path of Non-violence and worked on building the unity of the nation, which was broken by the British divide and rule policy.
After giving independence to India in 1947, Bapu stayed away from politics and started working on the harmony, peace, and brotherhood among the people and making people believe in the ideology of secularism.
Due to the significant contribution of Gandhi Ji, the Government of India announced January 30th the day he was shot to death as Shaheed Diwas or Martyrs’ Day.
CELEBRATION AROUND THE CORNER
On January 30th of every year, the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, and the Defense Minister get together at the Rajghat, the place of Samadhi of the Mahatma Gandhi and put down flowers garland at the statue of ‘Father of the Nation’ to pay him tribute. The Armed Forces personnel and Inter-services Contingent of the country give an honourable salute to the martyrs with performing a tribute band to them.
Shaheed Diwas across Nation
Several states celebrate the martyr’s day on different dates to commemorate the soldiers’ who sacrificed their lives at various events.
1) July 13th: It is marked as the Martyr’s Day in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to memorize the death of 22 people who were killed back in 1931 on the same day, by the royal soldiers while demonstrating adjacent to the Maharaja Hari Singh of the J&K.
2) November 17th: This date is observed as Martyr’s Day in the state of Odisha to commemorate the death anniversary of Lala Lajpat Ray also named as “Lion of Punjab“. He also played an important role in the freedom struggle of India from Britishers and people in Odisha celebrate his contribution on this date.
3) November 19th: This day is also marked as Martyr’s Day in the Jhansi in memory of great woman soldier Rani Laxmi Bai. Laxmi Bai was born on November 19th; She also sacrificed her life during the 1857 revolt.
In worldwide out of 15 nations, India is among those nations which celebrate Martyr’s Day every year. The reason behind the celebration is that we can’t forget our brave leaders or fighters who fought for the freedom of the country against British rule or colonialism and as well those soldiers who sacrificed their life keeping the nation above their life and family.
