“Manipur had a significant contribution in resisting the British in the entire Northeast during the 1857 Revolution and also in 1891. Manipur never gave up and the people there continued to fight. Manipur was the only state that had implemented its own Constitution. Manipuri war heroes Yuvraj Tikendrajit and General Thangal were publicly hanged in Fida, Imphal. The British thought that by hanging them, they had crushed the freedom movement, but it did not happen. After that Maharaja Kulchandra Dhwaja Singh and 22 freedom fighters were sent to Kala Pani and they were kept here on Mount Harriet. Today, in his memory, we would like to honour his contribution by naming Mount Harriet as Mount Manipur,” Shah said.

The Union home minister said that the Manipur government has plans to build a memorial at the spot and he added that the memorial will inspire tourists, the youth and the younger generation across the country on how to fight with limited resources.

Shah is in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on a three-day visit. On Saturday, he inaugurated various development projects on Ross Island, which has now been rechristened as Netaji Subhash Island.

According to the ministry of home affairs, Shah said that injustice has been done to Netaji.

“The bright pole star in the history of the freedom movement, Netaji did not receive as much importance as he should have. For years, attempts were made to downplay many well-known leaders of the Independence movement and their contributions. But now the time has come that everyone should find their proper place in history, those who contributed and sacrificed their lives, they should find their proud place in history, and that is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to name this island after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose,” the MHA quoted him as having said.

Shah said that similar injustice has been done to Sardar Patel.

“The Indian Republic today would not have been possible if Sardar Patel had not made more than 550 princely states a part of India in less than a year and a half. Sardar Saheb also did not receive the same respect as he should have received after Independence. But… no matter how much injustice is done to anyone, good work is never hidden and today in Kevadia, the world’s tallest statue of Sardar Saheb has been installed by Narendra Modi, which people from all over the world come to see,” he said.

“In the coming days, we are going to develop this island too, and will build a grand memorial for Subhash Babu,” he added.

Shah said that 14 projects worth Rs 299 crore have been inaugurated and foundation stones of 12 projects worth Rs 643 crore have been laid in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Saturday.

“The Modi government is beginning development work of about Rs 1,000 crore in a small area of the Andaman Islands today. The government has decided to name the bridge which was inaugurated today as Azad Hind Fauj Bridge. Every person passing through this bridge would go from one end to the other paying homage to Netaji’s 35,000 kms journey, his courage and his valour,” he said.