Parliament passes Jallianwala Bagh Bill

New Delhi: Parliament on Tuesday passed the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to remove the Congress president as the permanent member of the Trust running the national memorial in Amritsar.

Rejecting the arguments of the Congress against the bill and also its request to withdraw the bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha during the last budget session, the government and the treasury benches reminded the Opposition party that India got its independence not because of the effort of any one particular political party but because of the efforts and sacrifices made by its people.

The Rajya Sabha passed the bill with a voice vote. The government asserted that the bill would end the political colour, which the trust earlier had.

Congress’s Pratap Singh Bajwa, who initiated the discussion in the Upper House after culture and tourism minister Prahlad Patel moved the bill, called the amendments in the bill as “cynical” and said no one can undermine the history of the Congress with the Jallianwala Bagh or the Independence movement.

He also demanded that the country’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, for revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. The Congress member said PM Narendra Modi on the 250th session of the Upper House wanted Opposition to show large heartedness and it is the time that the government shows “magnanimity” and recognise the Congress party’s contribution to the freedom struggle.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred on April 13, 1919 when about 1,500 people gathered at the garden to oppose the Rowlatt Act were indiscriminately fired upon at the orders of military officer General E.H. Dyer.

Calling the massacre as the “black chapter”, TMC’s  Sukhendu Sekhar Ray urged the government to not concentrate on removing people from the Trust but to include martyrs’ family members in the Trust.