UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday inaugurated a memorial in Ambala Cantt built in honour of those who sacrificed their lives during the first struggle for independence in 1857. The memorial, named “Azadi Ki Pehli Ladai Ka Shaheed Smarak”, is spread over 22 acres of land and showcases historical events linked to the 1857 revolution through 22 galleries. He also inaugurated the 23-km-long Jalbehra-Shahabad (NH-152 G) National Highway project worth Rs 1,260 crore. During his address, Shah said, “I bow repeatedly to the very soil where, on May 10, the freedom struggle of 1857, an event that shook the foundations of the British Empire -- upon which the sun supposedly never set -- took place. “Historians influenced by the British and those driven by a British-inspired, Leftist ideology have labelled the 1857 struggle a mere ‘rebellion’.

 

It may well have been a rebellion from the perspective of the British. However, as Veer (V D) Savarkar rightly asserted -- for us, the children of Mother India, the revolution of 1857 was not a rebellion, but a true struggle for freedom.” Only after countless sacrifices of martyrs did the nation gain freedom, he said. “It is upon the foundation of the sacrifices made by those martyrs that we can, today, under the leadership of Modi-ji, envision a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India). Building upon the bedrock of their sacrifices, we have spent the last 80 years strengthening our democratic systems, and today, we stand tall before the entire world,” he said. Shah hailed the sacrifices of Nana Saheb Peshwa, Maharani Lakshmibai, Tatya Tope, Azimullah Khan, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Bahadur Shah Zafar and many others”. The public meeting was attended by Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini, Union Minister and Karnal MP Manohar Lal and others.