New Delhi, Jan 16 (UNI) union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the third international Kite Festival in the national capital on Friday, saying the event would connect Delhi with the entire country.
Shah said that with the efforts of Delhi Lieutenant Governor, the festival organized on the occasion of Makar Sankranti has become an appropriate example of “One India Great India (Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.” He asked the administration and the DDA to form a committee to further expand the scope of the festival to increase public participation.
Addressing the peoples’ representatives on the occasion, HM asked all the MPs, MLAs and Delhi Development Authority (DDA), to work together to prepare for the next kite festival which should be on a scale to find a place among such festivals of the world.
Quoting one of the greatest Indian poets Tulsidas, Shah said that the Kavi had observed that the people of this land love festivals.
Shad said that in every season there is a different festival observed by the people of the country, and the festivities bring the society together, and promote a progressive thought process.
Shah noted that as the Sankranti festival marks Sun’s astronomical journey Northwards, it is celebrated by the entire nation under different names.
Shah said that in northern states like Punjab and Haryana, it is celebrated as Lohri, in Tamil Nadu, as Pongal, in Assam, as Magh Bihu, in West Bengal, as Poush Sankranti, in Gujarat and Maharashtra, as Uttarayan, and in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, it is marked with the tradition of Khichdi or Sankranti Khichdi.
He extended greetings to the entire nation on the occasion, especially to the farmers. Shah said that during the independence movement when the Simon Commission had just come, ‘Simon Go Back’ became a rallying cry. It was on the occasion of Uttarayan back then that opposing the Commission, people had flown kites in large numbers with ‘Simon Go Back’ written on them.
The unique Kite festival is being held on the banks of the Yamuna at the Baansera Park.
