In an overwhelmingly touching gesture, Tweeple from across Punjab, led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, on Monday came out

Chandigarh: In an overwhelmingly touching gesture, Tweeple from across Punjab, led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, on Monday came out in support of Sub Inspector Harjeet Singh, who lost his hand in a dastardly attack by curfew violators in Patiala, sending a nation-wide message of salute to the Corona warriors who are risking their lives to keep people safe.

Even as the Chief Minister tweeted a video of Harjeet, with the comment that, “I am extremely happy to share that he is recovering well & that his hand has started to regain movement,” DGP Dinkar Gupta kicked off a Twitter campaign – #MainBhiHarjeetSingh – at 10 this morning. This campaign was launched as a solidarity initiative against any kind of attacks on policemen, doctors and healthcare workers across India who are engaged in the fight against COVID-19 an to create awareness against such attacks.

file photoThe DGP put out a tweet saying that for the entire day he would be changing his official name badge to ‘Harjeet Singh’ 
Sub Inspector from Patiala, whose hand was chopped off with a sword by a band of criminals in an early morning episode as he stood on duty at a police naka and tried to halt their vehicle. Harjeet’s hand was miraculously replanted back by the doctors at PGI, Chandigarh in an operation that lasted 8 hours.

The surgery on 12th was followed up by another surgery which went through the night of 14th April. Today, the Punjab Police is saluting not just the bravery of SI Harjeet Singh but also saying thanks to the doctors and their team for saving Harjeet’s hand and his life.

The campaign has drawn appreciation from Captain Amarinder, who congratulated the Punjab Police for the thought-provoking initiative which will boost the morale of of the large number of corona warriors across the country during these difficult times.

 Punjab PoliceMessages of support have come in already from Kerala Police, Uttarkhand Police, Gujarat Police and more. Celebrities like singer Gurdas Maan and cricketer Harbhajan Singh have posted heart-rending videos, full of emotion and love. Huge volumes of messages are getting posted on Facebook and Instagram too.

The campaign literally ignited the Twitter world, climbing from #27 to Top 10 on trends by 1pm. By 5 pm more than 3 million  lakh people had joined the campaign  and over 79000 policemen from Punjab had changed their name badges to ‘Harjeet Singh’ and posted messages & pictures on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, besides sending messages on WhatsApp in an unprecedented show of solidarity. Families and friends of the police personnel were also seen following suit.

Said Dinkar Gupta, DGP, Punjab, “We are overwhelmed by the flood of love and respect for SI Harjeet and the Punjab Police. I thank all our policemen, their families, friends and admirers, and all of the public for wishing us well in this hour of togetherness and one-ness”. 

The #MainBhiHarjeetSingh campaign will run over the next few days also.