Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his cabinet colleagues will be watching the special screening of the serial “Swaraj”, made by national broadcaster Doordarshan at the Balayogi Auditorium in Parliament this evening.

Union Minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur said, ” Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be our special guest at the screening of Swaraj this evening in Parliament. Cabinet ministers and senior officials will also be present.”

Sources said that there will be a screening of two episodes this evening- one on Shivappa Nayaka and another on Rani Abbakka.

Shivappa Nayaka is remembered as an able administrator and soldier. He ascended the throne in 1645. During this time, the last ruler of the diminished Vijayanagara Empire ruling from Vellore, Shriranga Raya III was defeated by the Bijapur Sultanate and sought refuge with Shivappa. The growing threat of the Portuguese was eliminated by 1653 and the ports of Mangalore, Kundapura and Honnavar were brought under Keladi control.

Having conquered the Kannadacoast, he marched down to Kasargodregion of modern Kerala and installed a pillar of victory at Nileshvara. The forts of Chandragiri, Bekal, Adka Fort, Arikkady and Mangalore were built by Shivappa Nayaka.

Rani Abbakka, was the queen of Ullal (near Udupi), under the Vijayanagara Empire when the Portuguese attacked Vijayanagara, it was destroyed, but Rani Abbakka didn’t accept the defeat. Despite the fact that her husband joined the Portuguese camp which eventually resulted in her killing.

Swaraj is a 75-episode serial presenting the glorious history of the freedom struggle and lesser-known tales about Indian history.

It is being telecast every Sunday from 9 pm to 10 pm. on Doordarshan National since August 14. The program is being dubbed in nine regional languages — Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Bengali, and Assamese along with English.

On August 5, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation Amit Shah and Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) launched a serial Swaraj – Bharat Ke Swatantrata Sangram ki Samagra Gatha at Akashwani Bhawan in presence of Union Minister of State for I&B Dr. L Murugan, Secretary of I&B Apurva Chandra and CEO Prasar Bharati Mayank Agarwal