Imphal (Manipur): The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP), the national social organisation of Gorkhas of India, observed the 131st Shaheed Diwas of Subedar Niranjan Singh Chhetri on June 8, 2022, in the Imphal-West district of Manipur.
The Manipur State Branch of BGP hosted a tribute function at the Saheed Niranjan Chowk at Kanglatombi where the life-size statue of the martyr is installed by BGP and was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh in 2021.
The Manipur State Branch of BGP hosted a tribute function at the Saheed Niranjan Chowk at Kanglatombi where the life size statue the martyr is installed by BGP and was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh on 7th March 2021 in an event hosted by BGP where galaxy of intellectuals, distinguished guests and several thousand people attended.
‘First Indian Gorkha to be hung by the British’
The attendees paid tributes to Saheed Subedar Niranjan Singh Chhetri, hanged on June 8, 1891, at the Western Gate of Kangla on charges of waging a war against the British colonial power.
Subedar Niranjan, the bodyguard of Yubraj Tikendrajit, was also given the charge of drilling the Manipuri forces and attended to Sipahis in the service of Koireng Jubaraj Bir Tikendrajit. He had been assigned by the Jubaraj the task of military preparedness and safety and security of the Manipur Royal Palace during the Anglo-Manipuri Conflict of 1891.
Subedar Niranjan was a Gorkha who was in the service of the British Army. He was an ex-army man of the 34th Native Infantry, but later joined the native force of Manipur and was appointed as a Subedar by Jubaraj Tikendrajit.
Ghanashyam Acharya, who wrote a book ‘Saheed Niranjan Singh Chhetri, the Unsung hero of Anglo-Manipur (Khongjom) War, 1891’, highlighted his brief history of Subedar Niranjan Singh Chhetri. According to Acharya, Chhetri was the first Indian Gorkha hanged by the British.
Ramesh Bastola, general secretary of the youth wing of BGP, said that the stories of the martyr should be taught in school and university curricula and published in a government gazette martyr list. Roads and Auditoriums should be named after him to immortalise Subedar Niranjan and the Government of Manipur should organise a government program and pay rich tribute to the great son of the soil.
‘Today at the first tribute program after the unveiling of the statue erected by BGP, I want to remind CM Manipur N Biren Singh, in his second term, to keep promises made in the first term. During his first term, while unveiling this statue, CM had committed to erect a life-size statue in the capital Imphal and officially recognise Gorkhas in Manipur like other Indians settled anywhere in India and remove the identity fear psychosis within the community,” he said.
Similar programmes were organised by the Gorkha community in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Dehradun, Delhi, Himachal and Assam.
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