Kathmandu, mar. 3: Participants of an interaction programme on the contribution of Ram Prasad Rai in the Popular Revolution of 2007 organised by the Ram Prasad Rai Memorial Foundation to mark his 91th birth anniversary have felt the need for conducting research into the martyrs who fought relentlessly and resolutely for the cause of democracy.

Inaugurating the programme, Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Sharat Singh Bhandari said that it will be a true tribute if we follow the path shown by the martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation and its populace.

He stressed that those who are following the path of murder and terrorism have to come out openly among the general public for the sake of their own development.

Former Minister Bal Bahadur Rai noted that every citizen must safeguard democracy in order to maintain his identity as a Nepalese.

Former MP Tanka Dhakal said that people have not felt the existence of democracy even a decade after its restoration in the country and the need of the day is to move ahead with the ideology of the martyrs.

CPN (Marxist) politburo member Lok Narayan Subedi said everyone has to work unitedly for the economic and social development of the Nepalese people.

Chairman of the Foundation Bhim Prasad Nyaupane presided over the function at which central member Dillisher Rai also expressed his views.

Martyr Rai was born in 1965 B.S. At sandilug in Bhojpur. He attended the conference held at Bairaganiya in India on Asoj 10 and 11, 2007 at the call of the Nepali Congress to launch the popular revolution against the then rulers of Nepal.