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Uri attack prompts PM Modi to inaugurate war memorial
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhopal to inaugurate a war memorial on October 14, more than six years after its foundation stone was laid, assumes significance in the backdrop of Uri attack and consequent surgical strike across the Line of Control (LoC).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhopal to inaugurate a war memorial on October 14, more than six years after its foundation stone was laid, assumes significance in the backdrop of Uri attack and consequent surgical strike across the Line of Control (LoC).
Sources in BJP say chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan invited Modi to inaugurate the memorial earlier too but in vain. But after Uri attack, Modi was quick to revise his stand given the patriotic feelings sweeping across the country.
The party sources said Chouhan initially wanted President Pranab Mukherjee to inaugurate the memorial. But he later decided to invite Modi instead.
Modi will be inaugurating the memorial at a time when there is a duel between the Centre and the opposition over surgical strike across LoC.
Congress leaders, including party veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar, claim there have been surgical strikes in the past but the then UPA government never trumpeted such actions. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam have even demanded the government to provide evidence of surgical strike.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi ‘dalali’ barb targeting Modi over the surgical strike has only heated the political atmosphere, especially in Uttar Pradesh which is set for assembly elections in 2017.
Memorial will add a feather in Chouhan’s cap, feel political observers
Political observers feel the memorial — built by BJP government — will certainly add a feather in Chouhan’s cap and Modi’s consent to inaugurate, in a way, signifies the PM acknowledging the chief minister’s work and efforts in this direction.
Parliamentary affairs minister Narottam Mishra asserted the chief minister respected public sentiment to acknowledge the supreme sacrifice of soldiers and he went on to build the memorial, the first-of-its -kind in the country, as a tribute.
“The Congress’ thinking of martyrdom, unfortunately, is confined to a particular family. Hence, the Congress raised political doubts on the surgical strike and never acknowledged the martyrdom of our soldiers in its over 60 years of rule. Otherwise, they had enough time to build such a war memorial,” Mishra said.
TANKHA CLAIMS HE REQUESTED CHOUHAN FOR SHAURYA SMARAK
Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha on Sunday claimed he had conceptualized the idea to construct a war memorial in 2008.
In an email, Tankha said a long standing dream of his and other members of the MP Foundation will be fulfilled with Modi slated to inaugurate the war memorial in Bhopal on October 14.
On Saturday, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had told reporters that the idea of the memorial was drawn from a meeting with General Deepak Kapoor at a programme. He, however, had not mentioned Tankha’s role in the entire project.
Tankha, who heads the MP Foundation, said the war memorial was conceptualized in New Delhi on July 10, 2008. “The seeds of the memorial were sown during the second Col Ajay Mushran Memorial Lecture at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi,” he said. “The guests present there, included chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief guest, then Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as a guest of honour and then chief of army staff General Deepak Kapoor as special guest.”
Tankha is Col Mushran’s son-in-law.
During the course of function, Tankha recollected, General Deepak Kapoor lamented that no war memorial was built at the national level in Delhi after World War 2. Tankha wrote he suggested Chouhan to build a defence colony for officers and jawans in Bhopal and Jabalpur, besides having a cricket stadium in the memory of Late Colonel Ajay Mushran in Narsinghpur. “The CM was kind enough to accept all my requests, including the request to build the war memorial,” he said.
The war memorial’s foundations tone was laid in Bhopal on February 24, 2010 by General Deepak Kapoor, Tankha said. Land was allotted to the defence ministry to build a colony in Bhopal and Jabalpur.
