Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday named 21 unnamed islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees via video conferencing to mark Parakram Diwas, also known as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti.
On the occasion of Netaji’s 126th birth anniversary, Modi also unveiled the model of the National Memorial dedicated to Netaji that is to be built on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, earlier known as Ross Island.
Ross Island, a part of the Andaman islands, was renamed Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep by the Prime Minister in 2018.
Modi said the government has taken this initiative (naming the unnamed islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands) to honour the Param Vir Chakra awardees. He said the islands named after the gallantry winners will be a site of inspiration for generations to come.
“Today, it is a proud moment for me as I address the people of Andamans because this is the land where Subhas Chandra Bose unfurled the national flag for the first time in 1943,” he said.
He underlined that the 21 Param Vir Chakra winners had sacrificed everything to protect India and noted that the brave soldiers of the Indian Army were from different states, spoke different languages, and dialects and lived different lifestyles but it was the service and unwavering devotion for the motherland that united them.
The 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees whose names have been attributed to the islands are Major Somnath Sharma, Subedar and Hony Captain (then Lance Naik); Karam Singh, MM; 2nd Lt. Rama Raghoba Rane; Nayak Jadunath Singh; Company Havildar Major Piru Singh; Capt GS Salaria; Lieutenant Colonel (then Major) Dhan Singh Thapa; Subedar Joginder Singh; Major Shaitan Singh; CQMH Abdul Hamid; Lt Col Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore; Lance Naik Albert Ekka; Major Hoshiar Singh; 2nd Lt. Arun Khetrapal; Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon; Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran; Naib Subedar Bana Singh; Captain Vikram Batra; Lt Manoj Kumar Pandey; Subedar Major (then Rifleman) Sanjay Kumar; and Subedar Major (Hony Captain) Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav (retired).
