Everything Must Be Re-Invented Post 2014?: Congress Attacks BJP Over 'Extinguishing Of Amar Jawan Jyoti'

Meanwhile, sources in the Government of India said that the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame won’t be put off but "will be merged with the flame at the National War Memorial."

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has slammed the Centre over the "extinguishing" of the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in the national capital, which has been there for 50 years now. The senior Congress leader took to Twitter to express his discontent and said that “it is a matter of great sadness.” 

“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!” wrote the Congress MP. 

“The Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at India Gate will be extinguished and merged with the flame at the National War Memorial on Friday in a ceremony," an Indian Army official had told ANI. 

Meanwhile, ANI quoted sources from the Government of India as saying that the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame won’t be put off but will be merged with the flame at the National War Memorial. “The flame of Amar Jawan Jyoti is not being extinguished. It is being merged with flame at National War Memorial. It was an odd thing to see that the flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti paid homage to martyrs of 1971 & other wars but none of their names are present there,” sources in the Government said. 

“The names inscribed on the India Gate are of only some martyrs who fought for the British in World War 1 & the Anglo-Afghan War & thus is a symbol of our colonial past,” it was further said. 

Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor also opposed the move and wrote, “This government has no respect for democratic tradition & established convention, whether in parliament or out of it. The sanctity acquired after fifty years of the Amar Jawan Jyoti is being lightly snuffed out.”

Another senior Congress leader Manish Tewari termed the move as “national tragedy” and said, “Whatever is being done is a national tragedy and an attempt to rewrite history. 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.”

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The India Gate War Memorial was built by the British Government in memory of those British Indian soldiers who lost their lives between 1914 and 1921. The Amar Jawan Jyoti was included in the India Gate War Memorial structure in the 1970s after India’s victory over Pakistan.

The National War Memorial was built by the Narendra Modi-led government and was inaugurated in 2019. This War Memorial contains names of all the Indian Defence personnel who lost their lives during different operations from the 1947-48 war with Pakistan till the clash in the Galway valley with the Chinese Army.