EXTINGUISHING AMAR JAWAN JYOTHI; ANOTHER STEP BY THE FASCISTS TO ERASE HISTORICAL FACTS – SDPI

New Delhi, 23rd Jan 2022: Extinguishing the half-century old Amar Jawan Jyothi at the India Gate in New Delhi by the Hindutva fascist regime is not surprising. Fascists want to erase the historical facts and rewrite the history according to their whims and fancies; and this act is another step in that process of fake history creation. Hindutva fascism is an ideology built upon hatred and cooked up lies about certain sections of the society in the country; and so, they are afraid of the real historical facts. The first act of the Modi-led fascist government when they came to power at the centre was to burn the records in the parliament library, thus wiping out all the documental evidences of freedom struggle, independence of the country and the ensued Gandhi assassination.

Renaming the streets, airports, railway stations, etc. has been a routine of the RSS government at the centre and in the states they rule. It is the present parliament building that is next in the list of monuments to be demolished, after the completion of Central Vista project.

Amar Jawan Jyoti was constructed at India Gate built by the British in memory of 84,000 Indian soldiers killed during World War-I, itself under its arch by the then Indira Gandhi government in 1972 to honour the 3,843 soldiers who died while fighting against Pakistan in 1971. The present RSS government constructed the National War Memorial barely 400 meters away from the Amar Jawan Jyothi in 2019 and all official functions to pay tribute to the soldiers, including on Republic Day and Independence Day were shifted from Amar Jawan Jyoti to the new flame site. Now the old flame at the Amar Jawan Jyothi is put out, and a flame is lit at the National War Memorial.

The justification put forth by the BJP spokesperson that the names of the 84,000 soldiers inscribed on India Gate are of only some martyrs who fought for the British in the World War I and the Anglo Afghan War and thus is a symbol of the colonial past is tantamount to desacralising the Indian soldiers who had lost their lives in war.

Social Democratic Party of India strongly denounces this act of insult and urges the patriots to protest this disrespect to the soldiers.