NEW DELHI: A major controversy has broken out over the
Narendra Modigovernment’s decision on Friday to extinguish the
Amar Jawan Jyoti(eternal flame) at
India Gatein the national capital and merge it with the flame at the adjoining
National War Memorial. However, the Centre’s decision seems to be aimed at the Congress and West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee.
India Gate was built by the British in memory of 84,000 Indian soldiers killed during World War-I.
The Amar Jawan Jyoti was constructed at India Gate itself under its arch by the then
government to honour 3,843 soldiers who died while fighting against Pakistan to liberate
in 1971.
On Friday afternoon, Air Marshal BR Krishna, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, merged Amar Jawan Jyoti flame with the flame at National War Memorial.
Aim at Congress
The Congress accuses the Modi government of not giving the due to its leaders, particularly those related to the Nehru-Gandhi family, such as first PM Jawahar Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi.
The Congress also alleges that the BJP was trying to appropriate some freedom fighters who were associated with the principal opposition party. Such freedom fighters include first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel, architect of the Constitution Baba Saheb BR Ambedkar, and freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Besides extinguishing the flame at India Gate and merging it with the one at National War Memorial (NWM), the government has also decided to install a statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared two tweets to share the information and also that he would unveil the hologram statue on January 23, Netaji’s birth anniversary.
PM Modi said, “At a time when the entire nation is marking the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, I am glad to share that his grand statue, made of granite, will be installed at India Gate. This would be a symbol of India’s indebtedness to him.”
He also said, “Till the grand statue of Netaji Bose is completed, a hologram statue of his would be present at the same place. I will unveil the hologram statue on 23rd January, Netaji’s birth anniversary.”
However, Congress MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib in Punjab
told TOI that the government has “defiled” the memory of those who laid down their lives in the 1971 war.
He said, “There are 1200 war memorials across the country. Why was it irksome to the government if two flames - one at Amar Jawan Jyoti and the other at National War Memorial would have kept burning concurrently.”
The senior national spokesperson of the Congress further said, “The spin that both the flames are being merged is nothing but antics and wordplay. It is chicanery of the highest order. The fact is that the immortal flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti is being extinguished by the government.”
The former information and broadcasting minister finally said: “It defiles the memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice in war to dismember Pakistan in the 1971 war. It is inexplicable that in the 50th year of the creation of Bangladesh, why is India’s most glorious post-partition moment being obfuscated in this manner?”
Tewari appreciated the installation of Bose’s statue but he objected to the extinguishing of the eternal flame at India Gate. In a tweet, he said: “The world respects and regards Neta ji Subhas Chandra Bose’s contribution in the struggle for India’s liberation from the yoke of British imperialism. The decision to put up his statue at India Gate is appreciable but why extinguish the Amar Jawan Jyoti concurrently?”
Target Mamata Banerjee
On December 16, Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to PM Modi to express her “profound shock” and the pain of the people of the state for the exclusion of West Bengal’s tableau on the occasion of
.
She said she had been “profoundly shocked” and “hurt” by the Centre’s decision to “abruptly exclude” the proposed tableau of the West Bengal government from the ensuing Republic Day Parade.
Mamata said the proposed tableau was set to commemorate the contributions of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army (INA) on his 125th birth anniversary year. “It is shocking to find that the contribution of its valiant freedom fighters finds no place in the nation’s ceremony to celebrate the occasion of Republic Day on the 75th year of our Independence,” she further said.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose came from the present state of West Bengal.
Sources in the Modi government said tableaux are selected on merits by an expert committee which is out of governmental control. They said Mamata Banerjee’s letter was an attempt to politicise the exclusion of West Bengal’s tableau and create a divide between the Centre and the state over Subhash Chandra Bose.
The sources in the central government said this year’s Republic Day parade includes a tableau by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Not to leave any room for Mamata Banerjee to further politicise the matter, the Modi government seems to have come up with the grand idea of installing a statue at India Gate on Rajpath, one of the greatest tributes which could be paid to the hero of freedom struggle in his 175th birth anniversary year.