New Delhi, Nov 19 (UNI) The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill 2019 on Tuesday got Parliament’s approval with the Rajya Sabha passing it by voice vote..
The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019 seeks to "delete" the mention of 'President of the Indian National Congress' as a trustee of the Jallianwala Bagh trust and nominate other members.
The Bill has already bween passed in the Lok Sabha.
The passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha came after Congress Member T. Subbarami Reddy withdrew his amendments on this Bill.
The bill was passed by a voice vote amid Congress walkout in Lok Sabha in the last session.
Replying to a debate on the Bill in the House, the Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel, responding to objections to the Bill by Members of the Congress party, said that after 100 years of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, everyone should have come on board leaving politics aside.
Taking a dig on the Congress Party, Mr Patel said that after the death of the life trustee like Jawaharlal Nehru, Saifuddin Kitchlew and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, why the Congress Party never nominated other people in their place?
“In 1970, late Ms Indira Gandhi chaired a meeting of the Jallianwala bagh Trust as Prime Minister not as the Congress President. After that, in 1998, Ms Sonia Gandhi chaired the meeting of the trust as Congress President”, he said.
Mr Patel further said that the Congress Party never decided whether Prime Minister will be chairing the trust or Congress President.
‘’Above all, we have not replaced the Congress President by our party President,’’he said.
He said that the trust should not be run according to the convenience of one party or person and the suggestion to include the family members of the martyrs is welcomed.
“When the old membersl retire, new members will come. So, there should not be any objection by anyone”, Mr Patel said.
He said that the NDA Government was committed to give due respect to all martyrs of the freedom struggle and this bill is one step forward in this regard.
The Jallianwala Bagh Trust was established in 1921 which was funded by the public. Again in 1951, a new trust was established which defined who could be the member of this trust.
The nominated members will be retiring in five years and the family members of the martyrs will also be included in this. The present tenure of the trustees is up to 2013.
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