Burning strong for 50 years now, the eternal flame at the Amar Jawan Jyoti crackled for the last time at India Gate in the Delhi winter air on Friday. The flame was merged with the torch at the National War Memorial, a few hundred metres away. Chief of integrated defence staff Air Marshal BR Krishna presided over the short ceremony.
The new memorial, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2019, has the names of all Indian martyrs from all wars, including 1971 and wars before and after it. It has the names of 25,942 soldiers inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets.
The Amar Jawan Jyoti was constructed as a memorial for Indian soldiers killed in action in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, leading to the creation of Bangladesh. It was inaugurated by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, on January 26, 1972.
The decision to merge the flame by extinguishing the one at Amar Jawan Jyoti triggered a political row with many opposition parties saying it was “in poor taste”. The central government, however, has clarified that the flame is not being extinguished but only being moved to the new war memorial.
Prime Minister Modi said the government is building new national monuments and adding glory to the existing ones. “After Independence, new construction took place only for a few families from Delhi. We have brought the country out of this narrow thinking and are building new national monuments and adding glory to the existing ones,” PM Modi added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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