Ambala, November 5: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Thursday inaugurated a memorial in Ambala, Haryana, to the martyrs of the First War of Independence of 1857.
The memorial has been built at a cost of ₹594 crore and spreads over 22 acres. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Union Minister Manohar Lal were present.
Shah also inaugurated a National Highway built at a cost of ₹1,260 crore.
Inside the memorial
The memorial has 22 galleries that use virtual reality, holography and interactive projection to tell the story of 1857. It also features Phulkari and Sarkanda craftwork from the region, an open-air theatre that seats 2,500 people, and a light-and-sound show.
Ambala Cantonment was where revolutionaries raised the call for armed revolt against British rule on 10 May 1857.
Shah on the meaning of 1857
Shah said Veer Savarkar had described 1857 as India’s first war of independence, though the British may have called it a revolt. He traced the 90-year struggle from 1857 to 1947 and remembered leaders of the uprising including Nana Saheb Peshwa, Rani Lakshmibai, Tatya Tope and Begum Hazrat Mahal.
He also named figures from Haryana, among them Raja Nahar Singh and Rao Tula Ram from the freedom struggle and Maharaja Agrasen. He urged young people to visit the memorial in Ambala.
Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership had made it possible to plan for a developed India.
Haryana’s record, as listed by Shah
Shah said Haryana sends the largest number of soldiers to the Army for a state of its size, tops the country’s sports medal tallies and has played a big part in food grain self-sufficiency and the White Revolution.
Among the state government’s work, he said Haryana was:
- the first state to become smoke-free by reaching LPG connections to every household
- the only state buying 24 crops at minimum support price
- the first state to implement the new criminal laws, with the conviction rate rising by 40%
- the first state to run a hydrogen train, and home to the country’s first elevated railway track
- running the HAPPY scheme, which gives poor families 1,000 km of free travel
- paying the highest MGNREGA wages in the country
He also mentioned the state’s online transfer policy, fully literate panchayats, the Parivar Pehchan Patra, an Ayush school, the Bhavantar scheme for horticulture farmers, and the campaign to make Haryana drug-free.
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