President inaugurates ex-UP CM Sampurnanand's statue at Lucknow Sainik School

Speaking on the occasion, the president said this was the first Sainik school to be established in the country and also the first to provide education to girls.

Discipline is necessary to run the country successfully, and this must be why former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Sampurnanand set up a Sainik School at Lucknow, President Ram Nath Kovind said here Friday.

The only thing on Sampurnanand's mind must have been that the country could not move forward on the path of development unless there are disciplined citizens, the president said at an event to mark the Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey Sainik School's Diamond Jubilee Year.

Kovind unveiled a 20-foot-high statue of the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister at the school in Lucknow's Sarojininagar.

Accompanied by First Lady Savita Kovind, he also inaugurated an auditorium named after Sampurnanand at the school, laid the foundation stone for a girls’ hostel, and released a postage stamp. Speaking on the occasion, the president said this was the ''first'' Sainik school to be established in the country and also the ''first'' to provide education to girls. This would be the ''first'' Sainik school whose girl students would appear in the NDA examination this year, he said, adding its teachers and students have established a tradition of excellence and set a good example for other Sainik schools to emulate. Military education is a big step towards women's empowerment, he said.

In his address, he also lauded the state's Governor Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and the education department.

Remembering Param Vir Chakra Captain Pandey, a Kargil war martyr and a student of the same school, the president said the country would always remain indebted to him and his family for his sacrifices.

He said he will visit Kargil on Dussehra to pay homage to martyrs.

The President also said, ''When our players enter the field of sports with a soldier's spirit and discipline, history-making characters like hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, Flying Sikh Milkha Singh and Neeraj Chopra emerge.'' Remembering Sampurnanand, the President said that when India became independent, freedom fighters like him thought of preparing generations of people who could protect the priceless freedom achieved after a long struggle. Speaking about traffic restrictions during VVIP movements that cause discomfort to people, Kovind said apart from being the President of India, he is also a sensitive citizen and stressed that curbs be enforced in a manner that there is minimum disruption to regular traffic.

He urged the administration to devise a way to enforce restrictions not beyond 15-20 minutes for VVIP movements and let emergency vehicles like ambulances pass.

During the president's visit to Kanpur in June, the ailing Indian Industries Association president Vandana Mishra could not reach the hospital on time allegedly due to the traffic restrictions and she died. The President had also expressed displeasure over this matter.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)