New Delhi: The newly elected chief minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann announced a holiday in the state on March 23, the death anniversary of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh.
Mann, while speaking at the Vidhan Sabha Tuesday said that the declaration of state holiday will give people an opportunity to visit village Khatkar Kalan, the birth place of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, and pay homage to the freedom fighter, reported news agency ANI.
A resolution was also passed to install a statue of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, BR Ambedkar and Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the Punjab Assembly.
Notably, Bhagwant Mann was sworn in as Punjab's new chief minister on March 16, in a grand ceremony organised in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of the freedom fighter.
For his swearing-in ceremony, Mann through a video message had invited the people of the state and urged them to wear 'basanti (yellow)' turbans and women yellow 'dupatta (stole)'.
Mann's decision of declaring March 23 as a state holiday is no surprise as the former stand-up comic idolises Bhagat Singh, which is why he is often seen wearing a yellow turban.
Basanti colour signifies revolution and the spirit of sacrifice and is identified with Bhagat Singh
In the recently concluded assembly election (February 20) in Punjab, the AAP had received a thumping majority. The party emerged victorious in 92 of the 117 constituencies of the state. It defeated the Congress which could only manage to win 18 seats, down from 77 in the 2017 state election.