NEW DELHI: Parliament on Tuesday passed a Bill that seeks to remove the Congress president as a trustee of the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial.
The Rajya Sabha passed ‘The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill’ that seeks to empower the government to remove nominated members from the Trust amid opposition from the Congress, which accused the government of doing “petty politics”. The Bill deletes the provision of the Congress chief being a permanent member of the trust that runs the memorial in Amritsar.
The Bill, which also paves the way for the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha to be a member of the trust, was passed by the Lower House amid a Congress walkout on August 2.
Opposing the Bill, Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa said PM Narendra Modi, on the historic 250th session of the Upper House, wanted the Opposition to show large-heartedness, but it was time the government showed “magnanimity” and recognised the Congress’s contribution to the freedom struggle. “The relationship between Jallianwala Bagh and Congress was that of nail and flesh which cannot be separated from each other. Don’t rewrite history,” he said.
The Congress got support from other opposition parties. S S Ray of Trinamool and Ram Gopal Yadav of SP said there should be no politics over martyrs. CPI-M’s KK Ragesh accused the government of trying to take control of the memorial. BJD MP P Acharya said, “You are segregating Congress from this trust...Show magnanimity.”