New Delhi:
Members in Rajya Sabha today voiced concern over official records not showing Bhagat Singh as a martyr, prompting the government to promise remedial steps.
"If his (Bhagat Singh's) name is not in records, it will be done. Government thoroughly considers him a martyr and gives him the status of a martyr," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said.
His response came after members cutting across party lines expressed concern that the iconic freedom fighter was not shown as a martyr in government records. This was revealed by the Home Ministry in its response to a Right to Information (RTI) plea.
The issue was raised in Parliament by JD(U) leader KC Tyagi who said that while the nation celebrated its 67th Independence day, the status of a martyr still eluded its greatest freedom fighter.
Several other members echoed Mr Tyagi's sentiment, demanding that Bhagat Singh's name be included as a martyr in official records.
Mr Shukla said the government held Bhagat Singh in the highest esteem and that it had released his commemorative coins in 2008 at Khatkar Kalan in Nawanshahar, Punjab, the ancestral village of the martyr.
The government had even re-named the village as Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar, he said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had, on Saturday, asserted that the "fact" that the freedom fighter was a martyr is not dependent on any official record.
Dr Singh had termed the controversy over the matter as "hurtful to a nation that is indebted to the struggle and sacrifices of our freedom fighters" and made an appeal to people to desist from creating a row over it.