Manish Tewari. File
| Photo Credit: Today News 24
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari on December 9 demanded that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) send a team of experts to Jallianwala Bagh to rectify the shortcomings in the recently carried out restoration work at the memorial.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Mr. Tewari said the murals at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar did not depict the Punjabi population of the era when the horrific massacre of innocents took place on April 13, 1919. He said the signboards in and around the memorial were also riddled with errors.
Mr. Tewari said the spot from where General Reginald Dyer had ordered indiscriminate fire on the people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919 has also not been marked properly.
Biju Janata Dal member Bhartruhari Mahtab wanted the government to honour those freedom fighters who are alive as the country celebrated the Amrit Kaal of Independence. Mr. Mahtab also urged the government to issue identity cards of ‘family of patriots’ to the family members of freedom fighters.
He recalled that the then Indira Gandhi government had honoured freedom fighters with ‘copper plates’ ( tamra patra) recognising their contribution when the country celebrated 25 years of Independence.
Congress member T. N. Prathapan asked the government to reconsider the decision to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship. He said the decision was an insult to the memory of Maulana Azad.
Mr. Prathapan said he was shocked to know that the government had decided to discontinue the fellowship, claiming that it overlapped with various other schemes for higher education.
