The Lok Sabha on Friday passed a Bill which removes the Congress president as a permanent member of a trust that runs the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial amid walkout by the Opposition party alleging that the Government was trying to “re-write” the history.
Besides the Congress, TMC, DMK, NCP and BJD also opposed the Bill and asked the Government to let Congress president remain as permanent member of the trust.
The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (amendment) Bill states that it seeks to “delete” the mention of ‘President of the Indian National Congress’ as a trustee.
Seeking the passage of the Bill, Culture Minister Prahlad Patel said the Government wants to end politics involved with regard to the Trust. “It is our belief and principle that politics should be removed from the national memorial hence the amendments were brought to the 1951 Act,” he said.
Patel said no one can rewrite history and neither the Modi Government is doing that. It is only reviewing it and acknowledging those who have been forgotten. He added majority contribution for acquiring land for the memorial was given by common man and it was also common people who sacrificed their life there.
Taking on Congress, the Minister said in 1970 Babu Jagjivan Ram was the president of Congress but then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was on the board of trust. And it took more than 40 years for the Congress to replace Jawaharlal Nehru, Abdul Kalam
Azad and Saifuddin Kitchlew from the board of the trust in 2006, he said.
The Bill was passed by a voice vote amid Congress walkout. Earlier, amendments moved by Opposition parties were defeated by a division of votes. A division sought by Opposition members at the time of consideration of the Bill was also defeated by 214 in favour and 30 against it.
Opposing the Bill, Congress member Gurjeet Aujla said the Government wants to re-write the history by removing the Congress president from the trust. “You have no contribution to the country’s freedom struggle. Why do you want to control the memorial,” he alleged.
Participating in the debate, Akali Dal member and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal claimed that a close relative of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had lauded the role of General Dyer, who was involved in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, describing it as a “correct” action. She said it was members of the Congress which were involved in the 1984 riots against Sikhs.
While BJD’s B Mahtab opposed the Bill saying it will bring no harm if the Congress president remains a member of the trust, DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran said the BJP got a huge majority in Lok Sabha and it should be magnanimous. TMC member Saugata Roy asked the Government not to rewrite history.
The amendment Bill paves the way for the leader of the single largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha to be a member of the trust. As of now, only Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is a member of the trust.
The Amendment Bill confers power to the central Government to terminate the term of a nominated trustee before the expiry of the term without assigning any reason.
As of now, the trust which manages the memorial, has the Prime Minister as the chairperson, President of Indian National Congress, Culture Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Punjab Governor, Punjab CM as its members.
The memorial was established in 1951 by the Central Government to mark the massacre of unarmed people on April 13, 1919 by the British Indian Army under the command of Col Reginald Dyer.