Union home minister Amit Shah will inaugurate the 1857 ‘Shaheed Smarak’ (Martyrs’ Memorial) built in honour of the brave heroes who sacrificed their lives during the 1857 revolution, also termed as the first war of independence, Haryana energy minister Anil Vij said on Wednesday.
He announced this at a gathering of party workers chaired by BJP state president Dr Archana Gupta in Ambala city. Built on 22 acres of land at a cost of ₹800 crore in Ambala Cantonment on November 5, Vij disclosed that after the memorial opens on Thursday, it will be open to the public the next day.
“The state government has also ordered the education department to show the memorial to students from various schools and educational institutions in Haryana, to ensure that the youth learn that the freedom struggle began in Ambala before Meerut in 1857,” he added.
Gupta, meanwhile, assigned duties to the district leadership and said that after the inauguration ceremony, the Union minister will address a rally of workers at Gandhi Ground on Jagadhari Road.
She appealed to party workers to gather in large numbers and turn the occasion into a national ceremony, in memory of the unsung heroes of the 1857 revolt.
Backed by the research of the late professor KC Yadav, a prominent historian who unearthed key British documents, it was found that the revolt actually first began in Ambala Cantonment—not Meerut as widely believed and taught.
According to Yadav’s work, executed by a team of five historians including his student professor UV Singh, the 60th and 5th regiments stationed in Ambala initiated the rebellion on the morning of May 10, nine hours before the uprising in Meerut.
“I once forced the Congress government, but they did not build the memorial. However, when our BJP government came to power in 2014, the government approved the construction of a national-level memorial,” he added.
Apart from the 68-metre-tall lotus tower, the main memorial is spread across three floors with 22 galleries, 130 short films, light and sound shows, showcasing the struggle against the British and the spirit of courage against the brutal force. A “Budha Bargad” (an old tree) will act as a narrator, telling the story as a witness to the march of time.
Earlier in the day, Shah will visit Karnal to participate in the ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ (save democracy, eliminate anarchy’) padyatra in response to the ongoing campaign by the INDIA bloc against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the Election Commission.