New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) The central government has planned to install a “memorial statue” at the premises of the Sealdah Railway Station in Kolkata in remembrance of the Partition victims, according to officials.
Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, at an event here on Thursday evening, held ahead of the 80th Independence Day, said the Indian Railways has “allotted” a space at the premises of the historic station in West Bengal’s capital city for the statue.
The culture ministry hosted a curtain-raiser ahead of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ programme this year which will be held during August 9-17, and the government will host a series of thematic events across the country.
Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), said, August 14, for last few years, has been also commemorated as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, and this year, “big events” will take place in Amritsar, Punjab and Kolkata, West Bengal to mark the occasion.
India, after throwing the yoke of British colonial rule, achieved its independence in 1947, but the subcontinent was cleaved into two dominions — India and Pakistan.
The then undivided Punjab on the western side and the then undivided Bengal province on the east side, were split into Pakistan and East Pakistan, an event that caused unprecedented bloodshed and migration from both sides of the borders.
Calcutta (now Kolkata) saw bloody riots in 1946. Asked about the form of the memorial, Joshi said it will be an “abstract form” and the statue will represent the agony of the people who bore the brunt of the tragic Partition.
Since the memorial will come up in Kolkata, it will also specifically be in remembrance of the people of West Bengal and the East Pakistan (which became Bangladesh in 1971), who had to leave their homes and migrate as a result of the Partition, he said.
The memorial, to be built by the culture ministry, is expected by November, the minister added. PTI KND VN VN
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