Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah inaugurated the Martyrs’ Memorial of the First War of Independence of 1857 in Ambala on Thursday. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Union Minister Manohar Lal, and several other dignitaries attended the ceremony.
Addressing the gathering, Shah recalled that on 10 May 1857, revolutionary heroes had sounded the bugle of armed revolution against British rule on this very land. From Ambala, the uprising spread rapidly across the country, leaving the world astonished, he said. Shah observed that British-inspired historians of leftist ideology had described the events of 1857 as a mere revolt.
Citing Veer Savarkar, he said that for the children of Mother India, the struggle was not a revolt but a freedom struggle that ignited the flame of liberty in every citizen, from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari.
The Home Minister said that in the ninety-year struggle from 1857 to 1947, countless martyrs sacrificed everything they had, making it possible for the country to see present-day India.