Nothing can be more ironic that more than six-and-a-half decades after
Independence from British Colonial Rule, India still honours its war
heroes - soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in defence of their
motherland - by placing wreathes at a memorial that was added on to a
relic of the British Raj.
Modi promises India its National War Memorial
The Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in New Delhi was and remains an
after-thought, rather than a true National War Memorial to honour the
memory of more than 20,000 soldiers who have died on duty.
No less ironical is the fact that India Gate, an imposing monument on
the central vista in the heart of the national capital, was built by
our colonial rulers to honour Indian soldiers who died fighting for
the British Empire during World War I.
Independent India's rulers, principally the Congress, never thought it
fit to erect a monument equally, if not more grand, to honour the
memory of our soldiers, airmen and sailors who died since 1947.
Instead, they chose easy and lazy route of installing the Amar Jawan
Jyoti at India Gate. Wreaths are placed there in the most desultory
manner to supposedly honour our Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen who laid
down their lives to preserve Independent India's Freedom, Honour, and
Dignity.
We perfunctorily salute the 'Unknown Soldier' but fail to remember the
soldiers who died battling India's enemies.
Each of them had a Name, a Face, a Unit/Regimental Identity. But all
that has thus far been of no consequence to the Political Masters of
Independent India, principally the Congress.
What remains is a sense of bitterness among the loved ones left behind
by our men in uniform.
It is not that there has never been a proposal for a National War
Memorial. Indeed, this proposal has been made time and again but
governments have dragged their feet. Even when an effort has been made
to revive the proposal, there has been dogged resistance by the
bureaucracy and the Delhi Urban Arts Commission which instinctively
rejects anything that may alter the colonial vista as conceived and
executed by Lutyens.
A half-hearted political leadership has done little to overcome that
resistance. The last time we heard about the proposal was two years
ago when Defence Minister AK Antony said hurdles in the way of
building a National War Memorial had been removed.
Since then there has been total silence.
The absence of a National War Memorial rankles deeply with those who
gave their sons to fight and die for the nation.
More important, it has resulted in a poor appreciation of their
sacrifice among generations of Indians. We are no doubt proud of our
Armed Forces, but that by itself is insufficient. As a nation we owe
an immeasurable debt of gratitude to our men and women in uniform.
A National War Memorial to honour the martyrdom and perpetuate the
memory of the bravest among them would be a small token of
acknowledging that debt of gratitude.
Yet, we have failed to do so - as a result, there is a gaping hole in
our collective memory as a nation, a blot on our collective conscience
as a people.
BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was referring to this
gaping hole in our collective memory, this blot on our collective
conscience, when he eloquently spoke about how we have failed to
honour our soldiers by not building a National War Memorial.
"There is no country in the world where there is not a war memorial.
India has fought several wars, thousands of our soldiers have been
martyred, but there is no memorial to honour their sacrifice," Modi
said at the event to mark the 51st anniversary of Lata Mangeshkar's
soul-searing song 'Aye mere watan ke logon'.
More than a lakh people, among them thousands of war veterans and
hundreds of families of martyred soldiers, who attended that event in
Mumbai endorsed Modi's view by applauding him for saying what few if
any politicians have said from a public platform till now.
True to their creed, Modi's critics have been prompt to twist and turn
that statement and mock at him.
Modi does not know that there is a war memorial called Amar Jawan
Jyoti, said some.
Others crudely reminded him about the war memorial at Kutch he inaugurated.
Then there were some who spoke of the various war memorials in the States.
Given their jaundiced vision, Modi's critics missed out on the stones
and boulders, small pillars, occasionally white-washed and inscribed
with names like 'Major Shaitan Singh', that dot our side of India's
border with Pakistan and China.
They are memorials too, immortalising the valour of our martyred
soldiers at the spot where they fell, fighting till the end.
But are the scattered memorials in the States, the stark monuments to
Major Shaitan Singh and thousands of others, the Amar Jawan Jyoti
dwarfed by the majestic India Gate, the street corner testimonials
written on rusting tin plates, the roundabouts named after our
bravehearts, enough?
Is that all we owe to our Armed Forces?
Is that sufficient to inculcate a sense of gratitude among the masses,
to teach our children to be upright and patriotic, to showcase the
bravery of our soldiers for the world to see?
It is downright silly and plain stupid to mock at Modi for raising an
issue that has been long festering, causing agony and pain among our
soldiers, airmen and sailors: The absence of a National War Memorial.
It is silly to remind him of the scattered memorials - he inevitably
visits each of them whenever he is in their vicinity.
It is stupid to mock at him for "getting his GK wrong" because Amar
Jawan Jyoti is at best an apology for a National War Memorial, listed
as the 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' in tourist pamphlets.
Modi believes in enshrining the memory of each martyred soldier
collectively at a single memorial.
It is in the fitness of things that such a memorial should be built in
New Delhi, in a large and open space, far more grand than any other
memorial, yet sombre and dignified.
The US has the Arlington National Cemetery and the Vietnam War
Memorial to honour its soldiers.
Similar memorials exist in other countries.
In fact, a memorial in Colombo honours the soldiers of the Indian
Peace-Keeping Force who died in Sri Lanka, the names of each one of
them etched in stone forever.
Sadly, those names are not known and heard of in India.
The National War Memorial which Modi envisages will similarly enshrine
the memory of our heroes, the names of each soldier, airman and sailor
who has died fighting for India since independence etched in stone so
that future generations do not forget them.
Their memory will become a source of inspiration and strength; it will
rally round every Indian whenever the nation faces a crisis.
India awaits a National War Memorial.
Modi has let it be known that this wait shall be over when he becomes
Prime Minister.
His critics can eat crow...
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Welcome!
This World War II Memorial honors each of the 16 million Americans who
served in the Armed Forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who
died, and all who supported the war effort from home. Symbolic of the
defining event of the 20th Century, the memorial is a monument to the
spirit, sacrifice, and commitment of the American people. The Second
World War is the only 20th Century event commemorated on the National
Mall's central axis.
