The opposition Congress accused the government of "removing history" by extinguishing the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate in order to merge it with the eternal flame at the National War Memorial in New Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi, the former Congress head, claimed in a Hindi tweet that "some people cannot understand patriotism and sacrifice." He also stated that Congress will relight the Amar Jawan Jyoti.
The criticism came as news agency PTI quoted an unnamed government official as claiming there is "a lot of misinformation on the topic" and that the Amar Jawan Jyoti's flame is being blended rather than extinguished. “It is a matter of great sadness that the immortal flame for our brave soldiers will be extinguished today.”
Sambit Patra, the leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, retaliated in a tweet.
Extinguishing the flame, according to Congressman Manish Tewari, is akin to erasing history.
He said in a tweet, “Extinguishing Amar Jawan Jyoti tantamount to extinguishing history. For it commentates sacrifice of those 3,483 brave soldiers who cleaved Pakistan into two parts and redrew the map of South Asia post-partition.”
Tewari found it hilarious that the administration "seems to be working overtime to erase" India's finest hour in post-independence history in the 50th year of Bangladesh's liberation.
“Amar Jawan Jyoti is imbued in the national consciousness. A billion people have grown up venerating it. Why can’t India have two eternal flames? Amar Jawan Jyoti and National War Memorial.” He called extinguishing the eternal flame nothing short of a crime. “I am surprised that the nation is silent as a national icon would be snuffed out in the project to re-write history.”
Shashi Tharoor, a Congress member, claimed that the government had no regard for democratic traditions or established customs. The government, he argued, is "snuffing out" the Amar Jawan Jyoti's sanctity.
Government sources said it was an odd thing to see that the flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti paid homage to the martyrs of the 1971 and other wars but none of their names are present there.
Manoj Kumar Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal said such actions are "neither good politics nor good optics." He went on to say that while it's natural that the current administration doesn't feel "attachment/belonging to the triumphs of the past," it's "beyond comprehension" when they use "memory erasure tactics."
According to government sources, the names etched on the India Gate are only those of a few victims who fought for the British in World War 1 and the Anglo-Afghan War and are thus a sign of our colonial past.
The National War Memorial, they added, houses the names of all Indian martyrs from all wars, including the 1971 war and wars before and after it.
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