On Friday (January 21), Congress scion Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to peddle misinformation about the eternal fire of ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ that has been burning for over 50 years at the India Gate.

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi alleged, “It is a matter of grief that the light of Amar Jawan Jyoti will be extinguished today. Some people will never understand the concept of patriotism and supreme sacrifice. Never mind. We will once again light the Amar Jawan Jyoti in memory of our brave soldiers.”

Shiv Sena, an ally of the Congress party in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, also cast aspersions about the fate of Amar Jawan Jyoti. In a tweet, Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi claimed, “Eternal Flame will be Extinguished Flame for some time. 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?”

It must be mentioned that the India Gate was unveiled by the British government on February 12, 1931, to pay tribute to the 70,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army, who died between 1914-1921. Following the India-Pakistan war of 1971, the Indira Gandhi government placed the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate.

Indian government debunked fake claims by Rahul Gandhi

After Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Modi government would extinguish the eternal fire of Amar Jawan Jyoti, sources in the government dismissed the outrageous claims of Congress scion and his stooges. While speaking to DD News, a source informed, “There is a lot of misinformation circulating regarding the flame of the #AmarJawanJyoti The flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti is not being extinguished. It is being merged with the flame at the #National War Memorial.”

 The source further stated, “The names inscribed on the India Gate are of only some martyrs who fought for the British in the World War 1 & the Anglo-Afghan War & thus is a symbol of our colonial past. 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 shraddhanjali to have the flame paying tribute to martyrs there.”

Retired Army General Satish Dua, who was part of the design selection and construction process of the National War Memorial (NWM), has been a strong proponent of the merger of the eternal flames of India Gate and NWM.

He added, “India Gate is a memorial to the fallen heroes of the First World War. The Amar Jawan Jyoti was added in 1972 as we did not have another memorial. National War Memorial pays homage to the fallen Bravehearts after independence. All homage ceremonies had shifted to NWM already.”

After a long wait and failure of previous governments, the Narendra Modi government constructed the National War Memorial near the India Gate complex. Inaugurated in February 2019, the memorial pays tribute to more than 22,500 Indian soldiers who were martyred following India’s Independence.

Ever since the opening of the national war memorial, all military ceremonial events have been shifted to it from India Gate. For example, on every Republic Day, the Prime Minister, the President, and the three service staff chiefs used to a place wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti and pay homage to the dead and unknown soldiers.

However, from 2020 onward, the wreath is placed at the National War Memorial instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti. The service chiefs also visit the new memorial on their respective Service Days to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers. As such, it made sense to merge the eternal fire of NWM and India Gate.

References:

opindia.com - OpIndia Staff