Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, an ardent admirer of revolutionary Bhagat Singh, today asked British Deputy High Commissioner in Chandigarh Alba Smeriglio to help the state procure the original archival recordings of the trial of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Hari Rajguru from a museum in Scotland. In a letter to the Deputy High Commissioner, the Chief Minister said he had learnt that the original audio/video recordings and archival documentation pertaining to the trial proceedings were currently held by the authorities concerned in Scotland and preserved in a museum. “These records hold profound historical and emotional significance for the people of Punjab as well as for global scholars of history and human rights. The Punjab Government seeks access to these archival materials for academic study, digital preservation and public exhibition at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Heritage Complex in Khatkar Kalan,” read the letter. The heritage complex, the stone for which was laid by Mann in July last year, is being built at the ancestral village of Bhagat Singh at an estimated cost of Rs 53.45 crore. This is not the first time the CM has sought the archival material. Last month, he had asked a delegation of lawyers from the Bar Council of England and Wales, visiting India, to help his government procure the video footage of Bhagat Singh. Reports suggest that Scotland Yard could be holding related footage. The letter is a step ahead in the ruling AAP’s push for aligning its politics with the legacy of Bhagat Singh. Mann, who has been idolising Bhagat Singh from his initial days in politics when he was in the Manpreet Singh Badal-led People’s Party of Punjab, has tried to integrate the legacy of Bhagat Singh in his government. After winning the 2022 Assembly elections, he took his oath of office and secrecy at Khatkar Kalan. In the run-up to the polls, AAP had announced that portraits of no political leaders would be displayed in government offices, and only those of Bhagat Singh and Dr BR Ambedkar would be put up, a promise the party has kept. The portraits of the two legends were not restricted to Punjab alone and were displayed in the office of the Delhi CM as well when AAP was in power. From the beginning of its Punjab foray, AAP has projected the alignment of its politics with the radical legacy of the everlasting youth icon of Punjabis—Bhagat Singh. “Mera Rang De Basanti Chola”, a song associated with Bhagat Singh, was the party’s anthem at all its election rallies. Before it stormed to power in March 2022, winning 92 of the 117 seats, AAP had raised the hopes of Punjabis by promising an “inquilab” (revolution), which in Punjab history and culture is always symbolised by Bhagat Singh. Though several historians and Bhagat Singh researchers deny the legendary freedom fighter wore a “basanti” yellow turban, claiming it was merely an artist’s imagery, Mann started wearing a yellow turban ever since he became an MP from Sangrur in 2014. After the party stormed to power, ousting the white, pink and red-turbaned Congressmen and decimating the dark blue-turbaned Akalis, almost all leaders of AAP leaders don the ‘basanti’ turban