Pariksha SaathiRashtriya Ekta Diwas 2026 at Ekta Nagar on 31 October: Vande Mataram theme, NSD play based on Anandamath
Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan said on 21 October 2026 that the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat, will begin on 31 October 2026 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the Statue of Unity, with the Ekta Parade in the evening. The government says the parade will mark the end of armed Naxalism in the country: State Police and CAPF contingents will march, the National School of Drama will stage a performance with around 2,000 artists from 126 districts once affected by armed Naxalism, and around 5,000 people from those districts are invited as spectators. The cultural theme is Vande Mataram, in its 150th year, and this year's play is based on Anandamath, the novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya. For the first time, 15 tableaux will be built from designs sent in by the public through competitions on MyGov and in every district of Gujarat.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the Statue of Unity, the 182 metre statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, to the nation on Patel's birth anniversary, 31 October 2018, at Kevadiya in Narmada District of Gujarat; PIB described it as the world's tallest statue. Its Viewers' Gallery, at 153 metres, can hold up to 200 visitors at a time and looks out over the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the Satpura and Vindhya ranges. The Prime Minister described the statue as a symbol of the self-respect of farmers who gave soil from their land and iron from their farm implements for it.
Check yourself: how tall is the Statue of Unity, and which dam does its Viewers' Gallery overlook?
182 metres; the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
Revision task: from this release, note the date and venue of the celebrations, the theme, the novel and its author, and the numbers of artists, districts, spectators and tableaux; from the note, the statue's height, dedication date and place.
Test yourself
The National School of Drama's play at Rashtriya Ekta Diwas 2026 is based on the novel 'Anandamath'. Who wrote it?
Show the answer
Answer: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
'Anandamath' is the novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (spelt Chattopadhyaya in the release). The Rashtriya Ekta Diwas 2026 cultural theme is Vande Mataram, which is in its 150th year.
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