Burning for 5 decades, Amar Jawan Jyoti merged with eternal flame at National War Memorial

New Delhi, Jan 21: In a historic move, the eternal flame at the historic Amar Jawan Jyoti, INDIA Gate was merged with the eternal flame at the adjacent National War Memorial on Friday.

In a short ceremony, a part of the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame was taken and merged with the flame at the NWM, which is 400 metres away on the other side of India Gate.

Amar Jawan Jyoti, is a memorial constructed after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 to commemorate the martyred and unknown soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces who died during the war.

The end of the war also resulted in the unilateral and unconditional surrender of the Pakistan Army and subsequent secession of East Pakistan into Bangladesh.

In 1971, the chief of the Pakistani forces, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops, surrendered to the allied forces consists of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini, led by General Jagjit Singh Aurora of India in the Ramna Race Course, now Suhrawardy Udyan, in Dhaka after their defeat in the war.

Since 1972, every-year on the Republic Day (before the Republic Day parade), it had been customary for the President, Prime Minister, Chief of the Air Staff, Chief of the Naval Staff, Chief of the Army Staff and dignitaries to a place wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti and pay homage to the dead and unknown soldiers.

The National War Memorial

From 2020 onwards, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, on the occasion of Republic Day placed the wreath at the National War Memorial instead of the India Gate. Starting a new Custom taking place at the new Amar Jawan Jyoti at the National War Memorial accompanied by tri-services chief, who also visit the same monument on their respective Service Days to pay tribute to historic and modern fallen soldiers.

The National War Memorial, spread over 40 acres in the India Gate complex behind the canopy, is dedicated to soldiers killed during the Indo-China War in 1962, Indo-Pak Wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Sri Lanka and in the Kargil Conflict in 1999, and also those in the UN peacekeeping missions.

Amar Jawan Jyoti was built in 1972 underneath the India Gate arch to commemorate soldiers martyred in the Indo-Pak War of 1971.

The Chief of Defence Staff , along with the Army Chief, Navy Chief, and Air Force Chief respect pay respect on occasions of national importance like Independence Day, Republic Day at the Amar Jawan Jyoti.

It consists of a marble pedestal with a cenotaph. The Phrase "Amar Jawan" (Immortal Soldier) is written in gold on all four sides of the cenotaph.

On the top, a L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle is placed on its barrel and is capped by the helmet of the Unknown Soldier.

The flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti will be extinguished on Friday afternoon and merged with the flame at the National War Memorial, which is just 400 metres away on the other side of India Gate.

The move to merge the two flames was taken as there cannot be two war memorials in such close proximity.