By IANS
Lucknow : A group of Britons who had come here to pay homage to their kin who died in the 1857 Indian war of independence left for Kolkata Wednesday after being under virtual house arrest in their hotel for a whole day.
Far from paying a visit to the Residency – the nerve centre of what the British refer to as the Sepoy Mutiny – they were warned against stepping out of the hotel to visit any relic associated with the event that shook the British rulers 150 years ago.
“Each one of us had spent a 1,000 pounds on this trip and a large part of it appears to have gone waste,” group leader Hugh Percell told reporters here before leaving Lucknow.
Protests were staged by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliated organisations well before their arrival and spilled over to the Lucknow railway station, where the visitors arrived by a train from Gwalior Monday evening.
A bottle filled with dirty water and garbage was flung at the bus carrying the British group from the railway station to their hotel. On Tuesday, Bajrang Dal men forced their way into the Residency cemetery and attempted to deface and damage the graves of the visitors’ forefathers.
Another group of protestors led by former Janata Dal MP Aas Mohammad put a garland of shoes on the memorial that marks the “heroic” role of Maj Gen Henry Lawrence, who laid down his life while leading the British defence.
“Some protestors tried to intimidate an American tourist couple visiting the Residency as they perceived them as part of the British group. Timely intervention by the police saved the situation from taking an ugly turn,” said District Magistrate Chandra Bhanu.
The visitors time and again clarified that they had come only to pay homage to the dead and not to observe any kind of celebration as BJP activists claimed.
“Indians remember it as the first war of Independence but for us it is a matter of embarrassment. We are actually ashamed of whatever wrong was done from our side and back home we describe the uprising as the ‘Devil’s wind’ that accounts for savagery by both British and Indian sepoys who brutally massacred women and children too,” said Percell.
But he also lamented “the manner in which some protestors threw muck at the Lucknow railway station on an 82-year-old Briton who cannot even walk without support”.
He added: “As historians, some members of the group wanted to also understand the Indian point of view”.
Tour operator Prateek told IANS: “It is really lamentable that the group could not be taken around simply because of a canard spread by those who have some political axe to grind. I simply with to point out that the group comprised eminent historians and ex-military personnel among others who had deep respect and love for India.”