The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution recommending the conferment of the Bharat Ratna on Dr Y S Parmar, the state’s first chief minister, to the central government. The resolution was introduced under Rule 101 of the Private Member’s Bill by Congress MLA Ajay Solanki. While the Opposition supported the resolution unconditionally, it accused the state government of undermining the legacy of Parmar. Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur criticised the state government for organising a “low-profile” event on the late chief minister’s birth anniversary on August 4. “On August 4, a low-profile program was organised by the state government on the birth anniversary of late CM Dr Y S Parmar in the Vidhan Sabha. It was a matter of grave concern that not a single minister, neither CM, Deputy Chief Minister and others were present in the function. Moreover, not a single family member from the family of Parmar was invited to the function. When the BJP came to power, we started observing the birth anniversary of Parmar at Hotel Peterhoff giving the program a status of state-level function,” Thakur said. BJP MLA from Pachhad Reena Kashyap, the constituency from where the late CM belonged, said, “It is a matter of pride for me that I represent the assembly (seat) which was once represented by Parmar”. “We definitely support this resolution but the current state government should take care of the condition of education and health in the native village of Parmar, Chanalag, in district Sirmaur. Chanalag falls under my constituency. I have raised the issue of health facilities and education facilities’ conditions with the Health Minister Col (Dr) Dhani Ram Shandil and Education Minister Rohit Thakur many times respectively. If the state government actually wants to honour Parmar, it should also look into these issues. We supported this resolution beyond the political differences,” the MLA said. Meanwhile, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, presenting the government’s stand, said, “Parmar lived and died for the identity of the ‘pahari’ people. He is an inspiration for all hill states”.
