Modi to pay homage to Bhagat Singh, Martyrs

Chandigarh, March 22 (IANS) Marking his first visit to Punjab after assuming office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday pay homage to freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at Hussainiwala where their last rites were performed in 1931.

Modi will land at the Amritsar airport on Monday afternoon and travel to Hussainiwala in Ferozepur district by helicopter, Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party president Kamal Sharma said.

The last rites of the three freedom fighters were held in Hussainwala after they were hanged in Lahore on March 23, 1931.

Modi will address a 'Shridhanjali Samaroh' at Hussainiwala, about 260 km from here and close to the India-Pakistan border.

He is the second prime minister after Rajiv Gandhi, who came in March 1985, to visit Hussainiwala, where preparations are in full swing.

The prime minister will then visit the Sikh holy city of Amritsar to pray at Harmandar Sahib, the holiest of Sikh shrines and popularly known as the Golden Temple, and at the nearby Durgiana Mandir.

Modi will also visit the Jallianwala Bagh ground where hundreds of innocent Indians attending a rally where shot dead by British troops on April 13, 1919.