Exhibitions On 'Horrors Of Partition' To Take Place At Stations, Airports & Other Public Places Ahead Of I-Day

The Ministry of Culture has written to the Railway Ministry asking it to hold exhibitions on "horrors of the Partition" at station premises to reach out to a maximum number of people.

This photo taken in August 1947 shows Indian soldiers walking through the debris of a building in the Chowk Bijli Wala area of Amristar during unrest following the Partition of India.

Source : AFP

New Delhi: The Union government is going to hold exhibitions on "horrors of the Partition" at key public places such as railway stations, airports, and malls between August 10 and August 14.

According to news agency PTI, the Ministry of Culture has written to the Railway Ministry to hold such exhibitions on station premises to reach out to a maximum number of people.

Besides this, exhibitions on the "tragedy of the Partition" would be organised at other important public places such as banks, post offices, airports, shopping malls, educational institutions, petrol pumps, skill development centres and vocational training institutes.

The ministry advised that "enough arrangements for security should be made for the exhibition."

In his Independence Day speech last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared August 14 to be observed as "Partition Horrors Remembrance Day".

"Partition Horrors Remembrance Day has been envisaged to bring to light the agony, suffering and pain of millions of people who were the sufferers of Partition. It is to remind the country of the largest displacement of human population in the last century, which also claimed the lives of a large number of people. Your ministry has vast outreach through various railway stations across the country. Therefore, it has been decided that you may ask the railway stations to display this exhibition in 700 places," Culture Ministry secretary Govind Mohan wrote in a letter to Railway Board Chairman and CEO VK Tripathi, as quoted by PTI.

He sought for the railway to showcase the sufferings of the Partition-affected people.

The exhibition,  in English and Hindi, is available in digital format at the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav website. It is curated jointly by the Indian Council of Historical Research (CHR) and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).

Given the sensitivity of the issue, The ministry has also said, "it should be ensured that the exhibition is showcased with the sobriety and solemnness that it deserves. It should be especially ensured that the sentiments of any section of society are not allowed to be hurt."

The ministry has issued a standard operating procedure for organising these events.

(With Agency Inputs)