In a historical move ahead of Republic Day on January 26th, the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at the India Gate lawns would be merged with the flame at the National War Memorial at a ceremony on Friday.
“The Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at India Gate will be extinguished and merged with the flame at the National War Memorial on Friday in a ceremony,” an Indian Army officer informed news agency ANI. The ceremony to merge the two flames will be presided over by the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Air Marshal Balabadhra Radha Krishna.
The merger will end the fact that there are two memorial flames, one at the India Gate and the other at the national war memorial.
The main India Gate structure was built in 1921 by the British India govt, in memory of Indian soldiers who perished in World War I. The Amar Jawan Jyoti was added to it later in 1971, after India’s victory over Pakistan that had resulted in the liberation of Bangladesh. The flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti has been burning continuously for 50 years and will now be merged with the National War Memorial flame.
After a long wait and failure of previous governments, the Narendra Modi government had finally constructed the National War Memorial near the India Gate complex, which was inaugurated in 2019.
Ever since the opening of the national war memorial, all military ceremonial events have been shifted to it from India Gate. For example, on every Republic Day, the Prime Minister, the President, and the three service staff chiefs used to a place wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti and pay homage to the dead and unknown soldiers.
However, from 2020 onward, the wreath is placed at the National War Memorial instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti. The service chiefs also visit the new memorial on their respective Service Days to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers.