Amar jawan jyoti now merged with war memorial flame
Why in news:
- The Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate is now merged with the eternal flame at the National War Memorial (NWM) .
- People can now pay their respects at the eternal flame at the NWM, military officials said.
- However, opposition parties, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, criticised the government’s move.
- Meanwhile, ahead of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that a grand statue of the iconic freedom fighter will be installed at India Gate as a symbol of India’s ‘indebtedness’ to him.
- In a ceremony, a part of the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame was taken and merged with the flame at the NWM at India Gate.
- Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Air Marshal B R Krishna presided over the ceremony, the military officials said.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 25, 2019, inaugurated the NWM, where names of 25,942 soldiers have been inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets.
When was Amar Jawan Jyoti built?
- Amar Jawan Jyoti (Eternal Flame) was established at the India Gate complex in January 1972to commemorate the valour of Indian soldiers who had laid down their lives in the 1971 Indo – Pak War.
Impact of the decisions :
- Former Army Chief General Ved Malik supported the government’s decision, stating that it is “a natural thing” to merge flames now as the NWM has been established and all ceremonials related to remembrance and honouring soldiers killed in action are being held there.
- Former Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur, however, tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter and requested him to rescind the decision. “Sir, the eternal flame at India Gate is part of India’s psyche. You, I and our generation grew up saluting our brave jawans there,” he stated. While the NWM is great, the memories of the Amar Jawan Jyoti are indelible, Bahadur noted.
- Hitting back at critics, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted saying, 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. It is ironic that people who did not make a National War Memorial for seven decades are now making a hue and cry when a permanent and fitting tribute is being made to our martyrs, Patra 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 at the India Gate, Patra said. The names of all Indian martyrs from all the wars are housed at the National War Memorial. Hence, it is a true homage to have the flame paying tribute to martyrs there, they added, Patra said.
- 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 the country’s colonial past, government sources said, PTI reported.
- The Congress accused the BJP government of “removing history” by extinguishing the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate here and merging it with the eternal flame at the NWM.
- Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at the central government, 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 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.
Announcement of Netaji Statue:
- Meanwhile, amid the row over the Amar Jawan Jyoti, PM Modi announced the government’s decision to erect the Netaji statue at India Gate.
- Till the statue, made of granite, is completed, a hologram statue of his would be present at the same place, PM Modi said, adding that he would unveil the hologram statue on January 23, the birth anniversary of the Azad Hind Fauj founder.
- The dimension of the granite statue will be 28 feet long and six feet wide. The statue will be installed under a canopy which used to have a statue of King George V that was removed in 1968,
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