Delhi: During his recent visit to Kutch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met a group of women veterans of the 1971 war who gifted him Sindoor saplings. Touched by the gesture, PM Modi pledged to plant the sapling at his residence. Accordingly, on World Environment Day, today, he planted the Sindoor sapling at his official residence 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi. During the 1971 India-Pakistan war, the Bhuj airstrip was rendered unusable by bombings by enemy airplanes, and 300 women in Gujarat risked their lives to help rebuild it in 72 hours, which helped India launch its air strikes. During an event in Bhuj on May 26 this year, PM Modi interacted with 13 of the surviving women, who are known as ‘Viranganas.’ The women blessed him and presented him with a few Sindoor saplings. In 2021, a film starring Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt depicted the story of these gritty women in the movie Bhuj: The Pride of India.
IANS
