Gadkari hails the move, says he and his party colleagues will participate at various Border Post programmes

 

New Delhi-14th May 2011

 

Shri L.K.Advani flagged off a unique Border Darshan Pilgrimage today from his residence in presence of senior BJP leaders and Uttarakhand’s CM Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. The Boder Darshan, first of its kind post independence is aimed to create awareness about threats to our birders and salute Jawans. The young Yatris , including artists, writers, journalists, photographers, poets and academicians will visit various border posts in a span of one year and prepare a status report on India’s borders.

 

Shri Advani said that he is too happy to be a part of this Border darshan and will visit at least two places- Chushul and Port Blair. He said that the Border Darshan is an effort to focus attention on the areas which have been in the forefront of the country’s defence.  He said that borders areas like Kashmir and North East need special care and we have to ensure our defence preparedness to face challenges emerging from various factors across the border.  He also underlined the need to propagate the two unanimous resolutions passed by Parliament on Chinese aggression and he second one to take back land occupied by Pakistan illegally and to create an atmosphere so that the spirit and the command of these resolutions can be realised. On this occasion a moving patriotic movie by Ms Pratibha Advani was also shown. BJP stalwarts like Shri Ram Lal, Org Secy., Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman , also attended with state party leaders.

 

It’s a special campaign to observe 110th birth anniversary year of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee organized by the think tank established in his name Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.

 

Elaborating the Yatra concept the leader of Border Darshanh Campaign Shri Tarun Vijay  said that  the Young yatris drawn from all parts of the nation will be visiting border areas covering a distance of app 15, 000 kms till April 2012 and prepare a report on the border status covering the prominent border posts at which our soldiers are constantly facing challenges. . These include Munsiyari- Barahoti ( a point where Chinese incursions have been reported), Nathu La, Tawang, Moirang, Port Blair, Lakshadweep, Okha, Jaisalmer, Uri, Lahaul and Spiti, , Chushul finally terminating at Dehradun on 17th April 2012 to be addressed by Shri Datta  Hosbale, the dynamic sah sarkaryavah of RSS and many other BJP national stalwarts.

 

The Border Pilgrimage  started on 14th May 2011 from the residence of Shri L.K. Advani, where a patriotic documentary  on Vande Mataram was also  shown, created by Pratibha Advani . Border Darshan pilgrimage, on Facebook and Twitter also, has drawn tremendous reponse from all over and young Indians are joining it from as far off places as Bangkok, Washington, from abroad to Kolkata, Bangalore, Jaipur, Jammu and Guwahati . It would involve trekking with full of thrill and adventure too.

 

During the visit to the border areas, the yatris would meet the ITBP/ BSF Jawans, pay tributes to the martyred soldiers and understand the difficulties in they face in their day-day life and their perceptions of the challenges from across the border. The purpose of the yatra is also to highlight through the mainstream media to the general populace the difficult life that civilians in these border areas are facing. It would highlight the infrastructure gaps to the issues of a life under the constant gaze of a hostile enemy.

 

During the previous visit by Tarun Vijay to Chushul, an ex-sarpanch, Sonam Paljor said "Sir, you have come from Delhi, please tell the government to upgrade our school to the higher secondary level. Our children have to go to Leh for higher studies, we can't afford that, so no one has graduated from this village except one so far".  These places are usually of neglect for our Central leadership, which keep pampering the stone-throwers and Osama sympathizers while ignoring the peaceful Ladakhi's and other border area inhabitants. This yatra is an effort to awaken media and make civilians of mainland aware of the shocking lack of facilities in our border areas. It’s an effort to show our compassion with them with a conviction of patriotism.