Wednesday, March 23 2005 21:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress party for not joining in paying tributes to Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and two other revolutionaries in the Lok Sabha on their martyrdom day today (Mar 23, 2005) and not commemorating the 75th anniversary of the event.

"We appreciate the gesture of the Speaker in paying tributes to the three martyrs on behalf of the entire House. The Prime Minister was present in the House and the occasion demanded that he should have associated with it," BJP Parliamentary party spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters.

Pointing out that nobody from the Congress made a mention of the martyrs, he said, "If the Prime Minister deliberately did not associate with it, it shows how Congress was belittling the contribution of the revolutionaries and talked only about the contribution of one family."

Malhotra demanded that the Government install a plaque in the Central Hall of Parliament to mark the places from where Bhagat Singh and his fellow revolutionaries threw the bomb and where it hit. He also sought installation of a portrait of Bhagat Singh in Parliament.

Referring to the several celebrations planned by the Government and outlined in the President's address, including the anniversaries of Indian Post, Dandi March, Albert Einstein and Bengal partition, he said, "It is unfortunate that they did not include the 75th anniversary of Bhagat Singh's martyrdom. Even now, it is not too late to do so."