Aiyar: Successor’s burden

New Delhi, June 13: The BJP began it, now the Congress is being asked to inaugurate it. But there is a hitch: Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar might be requested to dedicate a memorial commissioned by his predecessor Ram Naik at Cellular Jail in Port Blair when the Andaman administration was celebrating Savarkar’s birth anniversary.

Savarkar, born on May 28, 1883, was incarcerated there after he was sent on a 50-year exile by the British government.

The Congress has been boycotting all ceremonies the BJP has held to commemorate the founder of the Hindu Mahasabha and an advocate of a Hindu rashtra, including the unveiling of his portrait in Parliament and the Gujarat Assembly.

As recent as last month, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance stayed away from a function in the central hall of Parliament to mark the birth anniversary of Savarkar.

“The memorial is not to give preferential treatment to any particular individual but to recognise the contribution of all freedom fighters,” reasoned a government official in Port Blair.

The memorial with an immortal flame — on the lines of the one at Jallianwala Bagh — has been built with donation from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which is planning to request Aiyar to do the honours as it has been completed.

In 1998, the IOC built the memorial at Jallianwala Bagh — inaugurated by the BJP government — and soon after, set up Indian Oil Foundation to take up activities to promote heritage.

In April 2003, Naik visited Port Blair to inaugurate an LPG bottling plant in Hope Town as the authorities were winding up the celebration of Savarkar’s birth anniversary. He visited the historic Cellular Jail, a national memorial, and announced the building of a memorial.

The Indian Oil Foundation, of which he was the ex-officio chairman by virtue of being the Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, decided to undertake its construction.

Mumbai architect-artist Uttam Pacharne has designed the memorial. “We called several designers and architects to come up with plans. Pacharne’s design was selected as the best aesthetically as it had an Indian look with its bronze casting to withstand all weather and a canopy to shield the flame,” said Indian Oil officials. The flame will be kept alight at all times with the help of six LPG cylinders kept in a room nearby and connected to the memorial with a pipeline.