The decision by the Centre to merge the flames has elicited mixed reactions.
The Amar Jawan Jyoti was extinguished at India Gate in Delhi on Friday, 50 years after it was lit, and was merged with the torch at the capital’s National War Memorial (NWM) in a military ceremony.
According to military officials, the Amar Jawan Jyoti will be extinguished, and people will be able to pay their respects at the eternal flame at the NWM.
Following India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, the Amar Jawan Jyoti, or “eternal flame,” for soldiers, was built as a memorial for Indian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. On January 26, 1972, it was inaugurated by then-prime minister Indira Gandhi.
A portion of the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame was taken and merged with the flame at the NWM 400 metres away in a brief ceremony on Friday afternoon. According to military officials, the ceremony was presided over by Air Marshal BR Krishna, Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff.
On February 25, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the NWM, where the names of 25,942 soldiers are inscribed in gold letters on granite tablets.
Former servicemen had mixed feelings about the Centre’s decision to merge the flames. Former Army Chief General Ved Malik backed the government’s decision, saying it’s “a natural thing” to merge flames now that the NWM has been established and all ceremonies commemorating and honouring soldiers killed in action are held there.
Former Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur, on the other hand, tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter and requested that the decision be reversed.
“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.
The Congress accused the BJP government of “erasing history” by extinguishing the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate and merging it with the eternal flame at the National War Memorial on Friday morning.
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi responded by saying that some people do not understand patriotism and sacrifice, and that the Congress will relight the Amar Jawan Jyoti.
“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.
According to government sources, there is a lot of misinformation on the subject, and the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame is not being extinguished, but is being merged with the flame at the National War Memorial.
In a tweet, BJP leader Sambit Patra echoed the government’s position.
According to government sources, it is strange that the flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti pays homage to the martyrs of the 1971 and other wars, but none of their names are present at India Gate.
According to government sources, the names inscribed on the India Gate are only of a few martyrs who fought for the British in World War I and the Anglo Afghan War, and thus serve as a symbol of the country’s colonial past.
According to them, the National War Memorial houses the names of all Indian martyrs from all wars. As a result, having the flame paying tribute to martyrs there is a true homage, they added.
(With inputs from PTI)