Sunday, 03 October 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Glowing tributes were paid to the martyrs of the statehood movement on the occasion of the anniversary of the 27th Rampur Tiraha incident on Saturday.
In his message, the speaker of Uttarakhand assembly Premchand Agarwal said that the sacrifices made by the statehood martyrs would be remembered forever. He said that seven people died in the police firing and the atrocities were committed on the peaceful activists at Rampur Tiraha. Agarwal said that everyone should work unitedly to make Uttarakhand a model state and claimed that the state government is committed for the welfare of the statehood activists.
The vice president of Uttarakhand Congress Dhirendra Pratap went to the Ramnagar Tiraha on Saturday and offered his tributes to the martyrs. He said that people like him will not rest till the culprits of the Rampur Tiraha massacre are punished.
Terming October 2 as the black day in the history of Uttarakhand, the secretary of the state Congress and spokesman of Chinnhit Rajya Andolankari Santyukt Samiti Mahesh Joshi said that on this day in the year 1994 police fired at unarmed and peaceful statehood activists. He said that we take a pledge on the day to fulfil the dreams of the martyrs of the statehood movement.
On the intervening night of October 1 and 2, 1994, the statehood activists heading for New Delhi were stopped by police at Rampur Tiraha of Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. The police stopped scores of the buses filled with the activists of the statehood movement which angered the activists and they started slogan shouting. In the stone pelting which followed the then District Magistrate (DM) of Muzaffarnagar Anant Kumar Singh was injured after which the police started Lathi charge and arrested hundreds of activists. Later 42 more buses arrived and violence erupted and seven statehood activists were killed in police firing. Many women were allegedly raped and manhandled by the police.
