Remove names of 1965, 1971 war martyrs from Jaystambh: Bharat Mukti Morcha

It bears the names of martyrs from the regiment, including Param Vir Chakra recipients, who fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan. (Source: File)

THE Bharat Mukti Morcha (BMM) has opposed the ‘Roll of Honour’, a plaque that was placed on the Jaystambh in Perne village a few years ago by the Poona Horse Regiment of the Army. It bears the names of martyrs from the regiment, including Param Vir Chakra recipients, who fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan. The Jaystambh was erected by the British government to remember the valour of soldiers who were part of the British Army and fought against the Peshwas in the Battle of Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 1818.

At a press conference on Saturday, Waman Meshram, national president of BMM and the All Indian Backward (SC, ST and OBC) and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF), said that it was “wrong” to put up the names of martyrs from the 1965 and 1971 wars on a memorial meant for remembering the 1818 battle. “The government should construct another war memorial for the martyrs of the 1965 and 1971 wars. If the government lacks funds to do so, then we are ready to offer it. Putting their names on the Jaystambh is an attempt to diminish the importance of those warriors from Dalit and backward classes who fought the Peshwas on January 1, 1818. So, the plaque should be removed… We have started communication in this regard with the Defence Ministry,” said Meshram.

A book titled — 1 January 1818 Swatantryache Band (Freedom struggle of 1 January, 1818) — by Professor Vilas Kharat, who is associated with the BMM and BAMCEF, had stated that the ‘Roll of Honour’ with names of “upper-caste Brahmin soldiers” martyred in the 1965 and 1971 wars on the Jaystambh was an “act of erasing the history of January 1, 1818”. The book had warned of unrest on January 1, 2018, unless the plaque was removed.