FIRST terrorist attack on Bharat was made by Ahmed Shah Abdali which was countered by Maratha warriors in Panipat. Thousands of Maratha warriors sacrificed their lives for security of the country. A function was held in Panipat on January 14 to pay tribute to those warriors. The speakers demanded the governments of Haryana and Maharashtra to jointly build a memorial in the memory of those warriors. The function was organised at SD Vidya Mandir to commemorate 250th anniversary of the Battle by Panipat Ran Sangram Samiti.
Paying tribute RSS Akhil Bharatiya Pracharak Pramukh Shri Madan Das said the objective of the function should not only be to just building memorial but should be to strengthen the feeling of unity and integrity and also to apprise the young generation of the history of the country. He said we lost the battle due to some strategic mistakes due to which more than 1.25 lakh Indian warriors including their family members, were killed. “Today again we are committing the same mistakes. Returning the won portion of Pakistan and the release of Pakistani soldiers in 1971 too were our strategic mistakes,” he said.
Former Governor Shri VF Kokaje stressed the need to have a symbolic memorial in Panipat. Shri Panduraj Balkede, BJP leader Smt Yashodhara Raje Scindia and retired Major Ramchandra Gautam also spoke on the occasion. It is to be noted that over 35,000 Maratha warriors and 25,000 Afghanis were killed in the third battle of Panipat. Though we lost the battle, it made Ahmed Shah Abdali too weak that he could not even think of attacking India again. The Marathas later joined hands with Maharaja Ranjit Singh who later occupied a part of Afghan.
(FOC)
