Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced that the Chandigarh international airport would be named after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. This announcement came three days before the nation will observe the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh on September 28. The Prime Minister’s announcement ended a seven-year-old deadlock between the two States of Punjab and Haryana. The  Chief Ministers of both States on Sunday hailed the move. Haryana had first insisted that the airport should be named after Chandigarh because it was the joint Capital of both States. Later, when Bhupinder Singh Hooda became Haryana’s Chief Minister, he okayed the proposal to name the airport after Bhagat Singh, but his successor Manohar Lal Khattar wanted the airport to be named after an RSS ideologue Mangel Sen.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the announcement is a “dream come true for every Punjabi”, while Khattar said that it would be a true tribute to Shaheed-e-Azam especially when the whole country is celebrating the 75th Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Welcoming the decision, Mann said that it is the result of the State Government’s strenuous efforts.

“It is a dream come true for me and every Punjabi as our Government has been making concerted efforts in this regard. I had a detailed meeting with Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala to make a consensus for naming this airport on the name of an iconic martyr,” he said.

Mann also pointed out that he had demanded that the name of the airport must be announced ahead of Shaheed-E-Azam’s birth anniversary on September 28, and now, “this would be a real tribute to the young martyr”.