Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 21: In a ceremony today, the Amar Jawan Jyoti, or the “eternal flame,” for troops at India Gate will be fused with the torch at the National War Memorial after 50 years. This afternoon, a portion of the flame will be transferred to the military memorial.
The government said that “a lot of misinformation” was circulating in the wake of the move’s harsh criticism.
“The flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti is not being extinguished. It is being merged with the flame at the National War Memorial. 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,” said government sources.
The British constructed the India Gate in commemoration of British Indian Army men who perished in World War I. When the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government was in power in 1971, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was installed beneath the India Gate.
According to the administration, the names carved on the India Gate include those who served for the British in World War I and the Anglo-Afghan War, and it is “a monument of our colonial past.”
According to the sources, the names of Indian troops who died in post-independence wars, such as the 1971 war, are engraved on the National War Memorial. “Having the torch paying honour to martyrs there is a true shraddhanjali (tribute),” they stated.
Government sources said it is “ironic that persons who did not make a National War Memorial for 7 decades are now making a hue and cry when a permanent and worthy homage is being made to our martyrs,” referring to Opposition leaders who have blasted the initiative.
Over the huge change in a decades-old custom, there has been a deluge of social media posts and declarations from opposing parties, as well as a segment of retired soldiers.
“Some people cannot grasp patriotism and sacrifice,” remarked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.
बहुत दुख की बात है कि हमारे वीर जवानों के लिए जो अमर ज्योति जलती थी, उसे आज बुझा दिया जाएगा।
कुछ लोग देशप्रेम व बलिदान नहीं समझ सकते- कोई बात नहीं…
हम अपने सैनिकों के लिए अमर जवान ज्योति एक बार फिर जलाएँगे!— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 21, 2022
Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Shiv Sena MP, expressed her “sadness and agony” and questioned why two flames could not coexist.
Eternal Flame will be Extinguished Flame for sometime. How many more ideas & monuments we hold dear need to be reworked to make way for a ‘New India’?
Sad & Anguished. #AmarJawanJyoti
PS : Spare me gyaan on merging it with another flame at War Memorial. Why can’t we keep both?
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) January 21, 2022
Such actions are “neither good politics nor good optics,” according to Manoj Kumar Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
It is understandable that the present regime may not have a sense of attachment/belonging with the 'glories of the past' but it is beyond comprehension when you resort to such 'memory erasure' tactics..It is neither good politics nor good optics. Jai Hind #AmarJawanJyoti
— Manoj Kumar Jha (@manojkjhadu) January 21, 2022
The flame will be fused at the National War Memorial, which spans 40 acres. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 at a cost of 176 crore.
The flame is situated beneath the central obelisk of the War Memorial. The names of 25,942 soldiers are carved on granite tablets in gilded lettering in four concentric circles: the “Amar Chakra,” “Veerta Chakra,” “Tyag Chakra,” and “Rakshak Chakra.”
In the Veerta Chakra, there are six bronze murals depicting famous battles fought by the Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy in a covered gallery.
