Kathmandu, January 24
Martyr’s Week has started from today in the memory of the four martyrs who handed over the ruling power to the people.
On the first day of the week, a bouquet of flowers has been offered on the statue of Shukraraj Shastri. On reaching the place where Martyr Shastri was executed at Teku Pachali in Kathmandu, CPN (Maoist) chief Vidya Sundar Shakya, Deputy Mayor Hari Prabha Khadgi Shrestha and other officials handed over bouquets.
Shukraraj was born in 1950 in Benaras. Shastri, who started his primary education at
Achutananda’s Gurukul in Dehradun, India, had worked for some time as a headmaster at the Arya Samaj Vidyalaya in Allahabad. During that time, he started organizing organizations for civil rights among Nepali speakers in Patna, Darjeeling, Calcutta and other places. After that, Shastri, who had returned to Nepal, was detained in Upatyaka. Despite this, Shastri formed the Civil Rights Committee in 1994 BS in Asan under his own chairmanship.
While conducting an awareness campaign against the worldly rule through religious activities, he had gathered the people in Indrachowk on Mangsir 13, 1994 and criticized the worldly rule through the verses of the Gita. He was arrested on the same charge of opposing Rana. A bench comprising King Tribhuvan and Prime Minister Juddhashamsher at Singha Durbar on magh 7, 1997 sentenced five persons including Shukraraj Shastri, Dharmabhakta Mathema, Gangalal Shrestha, Dasharath Chand and Purnanarayan to death.
While serving his prison sentence, Shastri was hanged at Kharibot in Teku Pachali on Magh 10, 1997, accusing him of being a hero in his role in the country and abroad against the Rana regime. The metropolis has erected a full-length statue of the four martyrs who were
sentenced to death for achieving democracy at the place where they were martyred. Other
programs of this year’s Martyr’s Week will be celebrated on Magh 13 in Sifal by offering flowers to the statue of Martyr Dharma Bhakt Mathema and on Magh 15 in Shobha Bhagwati by offering flowers to the statues of Gangalal Shrestha and Dasharath Chand.
Due to the Corona epidemic, no comment program was held this time. Following the health
standards issued by the government for the prevention and control of infection, a limited
number of officials were present and a bouquet of flowers was laid at the statue of Shastri.
By Karuna Thapa
