What’s the controversy looming over Amar Jawan Jyoti?
Hyderabad: Controversies have been surrounding Amar Jawan Jyoti after the Centre announced that the eternal flame at India Gate will be extinguished after 50 years and will be merged with the flame at the adjoining National War Memorial in the run-up to Republic Day. Soon after the news broke out, it became a topic of […]
Hyderabad: Controversies have been surrounding Amar Jawan Jyoti after the Centre announced that the eternal flame at India Gate will be extinguished after 50 years and will be merged with the flame at the adjoining National War Memorial in the run-up to Republic Day.
Soon after the news broke out, it became a topic of discussion on social media as people started debating whether the government should do it. There were mixed reactions to the Indian government’s decision.
Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of “removing history” by extinguishing the Amar Jawan Jyoti. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi hit out, saying some people cannot understand patriotism and sacrifice, and added that the Congress will light the Amar Jawan Jyoti once again.
“It is a matter of great sadness that the immortal flame for our brave soldiers will be extinguished today. Some people cannot understand patriotism and sacrifice – never mind…We will once again light the ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ for our soldiers,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
Congress leader Manish Tewari alleged that extinguishing the flame was tantamount to removing history. “Extinguishing Amar Jawan Jyoti tantamounts to extinguishing history For it commentates sacrifice of those 3,483 brave soldiers who cleaved Pakistan into 02 parts and redrew map of South Asia post partition It is ironical that in 50th year of liberation of Bangladesh, Government seems to be working overtime to erase India`s finest hour in Post Independent History,” he tweeted.
However, government sources maintained there is a lot of misinformation on the matter, and said the flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti is not being extinguished but is being merged with the flame at the National War Memorial.
Government sources said it was an odd thing to see that the flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti paid homage to the martyrs of the 1971 and other wars but none of their names are present there.
The names inscribed on the India Gate are of only some martyrs who fought for the British in World War 1 and the Anglo-Afghan War and thus is a symbol of our colonial past, the government sources said.
They said the names of all Indian martyrs from all the wars, including 1971 and wars before and after it are housed at the National War Memorial. Hence it is a true homage to have the flame paying tribute to martyrs there, they added.
What is Amar Jawan Jyoti?
Amar Jawan Jyoti, meaning the flame of the immortal soldier, is a memorial in the Indian capital, New Delhi. It was constructed after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 to commemorate the martyred soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces who died during the war, which India won leading to the creation of Bangladesh.
It was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, on January 26, 1972. However, sources claimed that the names inscribed on the India Gate are of only some martyrs who fought for the British in World War I and the Anglo-Afghan War and thus is a symbol of our colonial past.
Two years ago, the existence of Amar Jawan Jyoti was questioned after the National War Memorial, where names of 25,942 soldiers have been inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets, came into being and the nation got a new eternal flame there. Back then, the Indian Army had stated that Amar Jawan Jyoti will continue as it is an “inseparable” part of the country’s history.
Earlier, tri-services chiefs and visiting delegates used to pay respect at the Amar Jawan Jyoti. Even on important days like Republic Day and Independence Day, tri-services chiefs used to pay respect at Amar Jawan Jyoti.
The National War Memorial built in the India Gate complex by the Narendra Modi government and was inaugurated in 2019 is spread over 40 acres in the India Gate complex behind the canopy, and is dedicated to soldiers killed during the Indo-China War in 1962, Indo-Pak Wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force operations in Sri Lanka and the Kargil Conflict of 1999, besides those killed in the UN peacekeeping missions.
After the inauguration of the building in the War Memorial, all military ceremonial events were shifted to it from the India Gate memorial. The National War Memorial has the names of all the Indian defence personnel who have lost their lives in different operations from the 1947-48 war with Pakistan to the Galwan valley clash with Chinese troops. The names of troops who lost lives in the counter-terrorist operations are also included on the walls of the memorial.
But with the new eternal flame at the National War Memorial and wreath-laying ceremony on all designated days being carried out at the memorial, the force will now merge the Amar Jawan Jyoti with the other.
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