Amar Jawan Jyoti | What’s the Controversy around it?

The Amar Jawan Jyoti means Flame of the immortal or invincible soldier. The memorial is built to honor brave soldiers who died for our country in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The monument is located in two places; one was constructed in 1971 inaugurated by former prime minister Indira Gandhi. The second is the National War Memorial inaugurated by the current prime minister Narendra Modi. The Amar jawan Jyoti is made of a marble pedestal with a cenotaph on top. On all four sides of the cenotaph, Amar jawan is written in golden words denoting the bravery of our soldiers and an L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle sitting on its barrel with a helmet like of the Unknown Soldier on top. Four jar-like urns are surrounded, one of which contains an immortal burning flame.

National War Memorial 

The National War Memorial is constructed in the memory of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in a battle. The names of the soldiers are written in golden letters denoting their courage. The monument was built over forty acres by the government of India. This memorial was inaugurated on Feb 25th, 2019, by the prime minister and chief of three armed forces.

What’s the controversy behind Amar Jawan Jyoti?

Initial reports were that the Flame of the Amar jawan Jyoti would be extinguished and merged with the National War memorial. Many historians and political parties did not like this partes as it showed disrespect for our soldiers. Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, “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 can’t understand patriotism and sacrifice – never mind, We will once again light the Amar Jawan Jyoti for our soldiers! Also, Congress member of Parliament Manish Tiwari said that “Extinguishing Amar Jawan Jyoti tantamounts to extinguishing history For it commentates sacrifice of those 3,483 brave soldiers who cleaved Pakistan into 02 parts and redrew the map of South Asia post-partition It is ironical that in 50th year of liberation of Bangladesh, Government seems to be working overtime to erase India’s finest hour in Post Independent History,”

Government’s stand 

The government took a stand that half-baked news is spreading around right now. Those allegations of disrespecting the soldiers are entirely false. However, we are extinguishing it to merge with the National War memorial. So the names inscribed in the India gate are not enough as there are only names of soldiers who fought during the British era, but the National war memorial has the complete terms of soldiers who laid their lives for the country. So this tribute will be better.