When Manmohan Singh called Chandigarh a 'City Beautiful'

Fri, 27 December 2024

18:54

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Former prime minister Manmohan Singh once called Chandigarh the 'City Beautiful' and a representative of the spirit of the people of Punjab and Haryana.

He made the remarks during a visit to the Chandigarh Press Club here in September 2005.

Chandigarh, the dream city of India's first prime minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, was planned by the famed French architect Le Corbusier.

Located at the foothills of Shivaliks, it is regarded as one of the best experiments in urban planning and modern architecture.

During a visit to the Club, for the silver jubilee celebration of the Chandigarh Press, Singh said, "Chandigarh is the symbol of a new India, it is the City Beautiful.

At the time of its creation, Jawaharlal Nehru declared "Let Chandigarh be the first large expression of our genius flowering on our newly earned freedom."

He also paid his tributes to the local journalists, saying that many of the country's finest scribes cut their teeth in Chandigarh.

"Today morning, I had the privilege of attending the 125th anniversary celebrations of The Tribune. The Tribune was born in Lahore, but it blossomed here in Chandigarh."

"It did so because Chandigarh provided the intellectual, social and political environment in which media could freely develop and grow. I salute Chandigarh and the people of Chandigarh. May your city continue to grow as a role model in all walks of life," Singh, then serving his first of the two terms as PM, said. -- PTI

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