LS passes Jallianwala Bagh Bill, to axe Congress chief as trustee

New Delhi: Lok Sabha on Friday passed 'The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (amendment) Bill, which seeks to remove the Congress president as a trustee, amid vociferous protests from the party members who later walked out.

Piloting the bill, Culture Minister Prahlad Patel asserted that national memorials cannot be "political memorials" and they should be kept away from politics. The bill was passed by a voice vote amid the Congress walkout. Amendments moved by Opposition parties were defeated by division of votes.

A division sought by opposition members at the time of consideration of the bill was defeated with 214 voting in favour and 30 against.

The amendment bill also paves the way for the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha to be a member of the trust.

But no such post exists at present as no non-BJP party won the required 10 per cent of total seats to get the status.

As of now, the trust which manages the memorial, has the Prime Minister as the chairperson, President of Indian National Congress, Culture Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Punjab governor, Punjab CM as its members. Replying to the debate on the bill, Patel said the government wants to end politics associated with the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust.

"It is our belief and principle that politics should be removed from the national memorial and hence the amendments were brought to the 1951 Act," he said. Patel said there should be no politicisation of the memorial rather there should be nationalisation.

"It should be a great tribute to Udham Singh," he said while questioning Congress party for stopping it from appointing his family members on the board.

As soon as the minister started speaking on the bill, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi entered the house.

Opposing the bill, Congress member Gurjeet Aujla said the government wants to re-write the history by removing the Congress president from the trust. "This government wants to distort history, destroy history. You cannot remove the sacrifice of the Congress to the country's freedom struggle," he said. As Aujla attacked the ruling BJP and like-minded organisations for "not taking part in the freedom struggle", the ruling party members countered him with slogans.

"You have no contribution to the country's freedom struggle. Why do you want to control the memorial," he alleged.

Participating in the debate, Akali Dal member and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said it was the members of the Congress who were involved in the 1984 riots against Sikhs.

Badal alleged that a person involved in the 1984 anti- Sikh riots has been made chief minister and a close relative of Punjab chief minister had lauded the role of General Dyer who was involved in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. "This was a recorded history and you cannot forget it," she said.