Merged, Not Extinguished: Centre on Amar Jawan Jyoti

New Delhi: Fifty years after it was lit and having burned ever since, the Amar Jawan Jyoti or “eternal flame” at India Gate was on Friday merged with the torch at the National War Memorial, a few hundred yards away.

The flame was taken from India Gate to the new memorial in a military ceremony.

The Amar Jawan Jyoti was kept burning for 50 years first by LPG cylinders, and later with piped gas. A soldier lit a torch from each of the four flaming urns at India Gate before their fuel was cut.

Countering criticism, the Centre said a “lot of misinformation” was circulating on the event. “The flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti is not being extinguished. It is being merged with the flame at the National War Memorial,” a government official said.

Officials said one reason for merging the flames was “difficulty in maintaining two flames”.

The Amar Jawan Jyoti was lit at India Gate after the 1971 India-Pakistan war. The India Gate was built by the British as a memorial to the soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in World War-I and the Anglo-Afghan War, whose names are engraved there.

The National War Memorial was built in 2019 for military ceremonies and paying tribute to fallen soldiers. The names of Indian soldiers who died in wars after Independence, including the 1971 war, are engraved there.