By IANS
Lucknow : The 42-member British delegation slated to visit Lucknow to pay homage to their ancestors killed during India’s first war of independence in 1857 – described as the mutiny by the British – is likely to be asked to go back following protests against the visit.
The Uttar Pradesh government Monday took the decision after much debate and discussion in the wake of controversies surrounding the visit, informed official sources said here.
Scheduled to reach here Monday morning, the delegation had not arrived until evening. However, a heavy security net was thrown in and around the ruins of Lucknow Residency – the 1857 relic – where the British visitors planned to offer homage to their kin whose graves dot a well preserved cemetery.
The delegation, led by Sir Mark Allen Havelock, the great-great-grandson of Major General Havelock who was responsible for crushing the revolt by Indian sepoys in 1857, also includes a descendant of Maj Gen Henry Lawrence, who died defending the Residency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the lead in opposing the visit that was aimed at marking the 150th anniversary of the first uprising against the British in India.
Surprisingly, the move found support from diverse quarters. Hindus and Muslims, ideologically divergent BJP and Samajwadi Party (SP) seemed to be virtually joining hands in opposing the visit.
It was, however, amply evident that both the BJP and SP were keen on using it as a political tool against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi as well as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in the state.
Close on the heels of protest calls issued by Hindu outfits like Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and Bajrang Dal came angry reactions from certain Muslims organisations too.
Those issuing the protest calls included BJP leader Lalji Tandon, SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary, Bajrang Dal state chief Rajendra Sachan, well known Muslim Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawaad and Sunni Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
Tandon, a close lieutenant of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who got elected to parliament from here, marched to the Residency Monday noon to stage a protest demonstration.
“We will not allow anyone to make a mockery of our freedom struggle by eulogising those who oppressed us for almost 200 years,” he told a gathering of about 300-odd BJP workers outside the closed wrought iron gates of the Residency. Nearly 3,000 British were trapped and killed inside the Residency during the uprising, which also brought down the once magnificent complex erected in the late 18th century by the then Nawab Saadat Ali Khan for the British resident.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) preserves the ruins as a “protected monument”.
“How can we forget that the forefathers of the members of the delegation were the ones who tortured and slaughtered our freedom fighters? Why should we allow anyone to come and shower praise on those oppressors?” asked Tandon.
Both BJP and SP were busy terming the visit as observation of some kind of ‘victory day’, despite clarifications issued by Delhi-based organisers that the visiting British delegation has no plans of eulogising the role of their kin in the events of 1857.
“All they wish to do is to pay homage to their ancestors at a British cemetery inside the Lucknow Residency, where they would lay wreaths and light candles. No on intends to make speeches or hold any kind of celebration,” clarified a spokesman of Tornos, a tourist agency that had arranged their India travel.
“I fail to understand why some persons were trying to give the visit an unnecessary political colour,” he wondered.
“The British group proposed to first hoist the Indian Tricolour at the Residency where the Union Jack used to fly once upon a time. It is to be followed by recitation of Gurubani as a mark of tribute to the Sikh soldiers who also laid down their lives along with the British soldiers, and to be concluded with hymns to commemorate the soldiers from both sides,” he pointed out.
“So, where is the question of eulogising the British?” he asked.
The state government earlier took a neutral stance. “We will not allow anyone to disturb the peace and harmony, permission will not be granted to anybody to hold any such celebration that might hurt the feelings of the people,” Principal Home Secretary J.N. Chamber said earlier in the day.
However, in the same vein he hastened to add, “but we cannot disallow people from offering homage to their dead.” He also ruled out the possibility of banning the entry of the delegation.
Lucknow District Magistrate Chandra Bhanu told IANS, “We have made adequate security arrangements in and around the Residency to prevent any untoward incident from any side.”