In a historic move by the Centre ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, the Amar Jawan Jyoti or the “eternal flame” for soldiers at India Gate was merged with the torch at the National War Memorial in a ceremony on Friday. The decision was hailed by most military veterans and political leaders belonging to the ruling coalition. However, the Congress severely criticised the government for the move.
On Friday, a part of the flame was carried to the War Memorial in the afternoon in a ceremony that was presided over by the Integrated Defence Staff Chief, Air Marshal Balabadhra Radha Krishna. Krishna laid a wreath after which a torch was lit from the Amar Jawan Jyoti and the flame was doused. The torch was then taken to the National War Memorial by a ceremonial guard from Guards Regiment of the Indian Army. After travelling for around 150 metres, the torch was used to symbolically merge the flame from Amar Jawan Jyoti with the one at the National War Memorial.
Air Marshal Krishna presided over the ceremony at both the locations.
However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Central government for the move. Taking to Twitter, the Congress MP said, “It is a matter of great sadness that the immortal flame that used to burn 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.”
Congress MP Manish Tewari too criticised the Central government and said that merging Amar Jawan Jyoti with War Memorial Torch means “erasing history”. The Congress MP said, “Whatever is being done is a national tragedy and an attempt to rewrite history. Amar Jawan Jyoti is the soul of crores of people. Merging Amar Jawan Jyoti with War Memorial Torch means erasing history. BJP has built the National War Memorial, that does not mean they can extinguish the Amar Jawan Jyoti.”. He asked, “Why can’t India have two eternal flames? Amar Jawan Jyoti and National War Memorial.” “Redeveloping the Central Vista was hubris enough but extinguishing the eternal flame at India Gate is nothing short of a crime. I am surprised that the nation is silent as a national icon would be snuffed out in the project to re-write history,” he asserted.
Government sources, however, said that a lot of misinformation was being spread and that the flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti was not being extinguished, it was being merged with the flame at the National War Memorial. “It was odd to see that the flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti paid homage to the martyrs of 1971 and other war heroes but none of their names are present there but now the names of all Indian martyrs from all wars, including 1971 and wars before and after it are housed at the National War Memorial. This would be a true tribute to our fallen heroes,” the sources added.
Lashing out at the Congress, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “The question that needs to be asked of the Opposition is why did you not think of making a permanent memorial in the last six decades when you were in power. This flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti is a temporary one… India Gate was built in the pre-Independence era and it does not have the names of the fallen heroes of 1971 or other wars,” said the minister. “Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi built the National War Memorial and the name of every fallen hero is put there. That is the best tribute to be given to our soldiers. I’m astounded by the duplicity and the hypocrisy of the opposition,” he said.
Commenting on the move, former Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Lieutenant General (Retd) Satish Dua called it the “right decision”. Speaking to a news agency, Lt General Dua said, “India Gate was built to pay tribute to the heroes of World War I. Since we did not have any national war memorial, we continued with India Gate. After the victory of the 1971 war, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was installed in 1972. It was not there before 1972. As we did not have a national memorial it continued to remain so.” “The merger of Amar Jawan Jyoti with the National War Memorial is the right decision to make. There should be no controversy. National War Memorial has a national character,” he added.
Lieutenant General (Retd), Former Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) Indian Army, Vinod Bhatia hailed the Centre’s decision. “Today is a great occasion, the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate is being merged with the National War Memorial. It’s a good decision,” Bhatia said. “Amar Jawan Jyoti honours our soldiers in 1971 for 50 years. We have a National War Memorial which honours nearly 25,000 soldiers, sailors who made the supreme sacrifices in defence of India. The time has come to shift the Amar Jawan Jyoti to merge it with National War Memorial,” he said.
1971 war veteran and former Army Deputy Chief Lieutenant General J.B.S. Yadava (Retd) also supported the Centre’s decision and said “Amar Jawan Jyoti should be merged with National War Memorial. There should be only one War Memorial in the country.” “There should be no politics on the merger of Amar Jawan Jyoti and National War Memorial. It has become a trend to give a political angle to every initiative done by the Centre,” Yadava said.
However, Air Force veteran Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur said that the eternal flame at India Gate is part of Indian psyche. “You, I and our generation grew up saluting our brave jawans there. While National War Memorial is great, the memories of #AmarJawanJyoti are indelible,” he tweeted earlier in the day.
The India Gate memorial was built by the British government in memory of the British Indian Army soldiers who lost their lives between 1914-1921. However, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was included in the memorial structure in the 1970s after India’s victory over Pakistan.
After a long wait and multiple considerations, the National War Memorial was built in the India Gate complex by the Narendra Modi government and was inaugurated in 2019. After the inauguration of the building in 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.