By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/NABARANGPUR: The Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who is visiting south-western Parts of Odisha as part of BJP’s Jan Ashirvad Yatra, on Saturday paid rich tribute to Quit India Movement martyrs Papadahandi in Nabarangpur.
“Papadahandi in Nabarangpur witnessed a barbaric incident during QIM making it the 2nd largest massacre after jallianwala bagh massacre.Paid tribute to the great martyrs.#JanAshirwadYatra#AzadiKaAmritMahotsav,” Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted @AshwiniVaishnaw.
19 freedom fighters gunned down by the British police forces on the Turi river bank on this day of August 1942 during the Quit India Movement. It was second biggest massacre by British Police in India.
On 24 August, 1942, British police opened fired on freedom fighters at the Turi river bridge without giving them any prior warning while the latter were marching towards Papadahandi to attend a meeting on Gandhiji’s call for a Quit India Movement. Eleven persons died on the spot and eight others succumbed at the Nabarangpur hospital later. Hundreds of innocent people jumped into the river out of fear and got injured.
The incident has been marked as the biggest massacre by the British police, next only to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre during the freedom movement of India.
