In Manipur, Amit Shah recalls freedom fighter Hemam Neelmani Singh

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday recalled Manipur freedom fighter Hemam Neelmani Singh, a member of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army, as he was felicitated posthumously by the Bharat Vikas Parishad, with Shah as the chief guest at the event.

Evading arrest till 1945, Shah said, Singh went back to Moirang after his release from jail in 1946, and engaged in social work. “When I first went to Manipur, I saw youth conversing in Hindi. When I asked them how they could converse in Hindi so well, they recalled Heman Neelmani Singh, who worked for linguistic unity throughout his life,” he said.

The Bharat Vikas Parishad is a voluntary organisation inspired by Swami Vivekanand that was initially set up as the Citizens Council by Suraj Prakash to mobilize citizen efforts against the Chinese attack of 1962. It was given its present name in 1963.