Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel today announced that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will lay the foundation stone of ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ in the state on February 3.

In a tweet, the CM called heroic stories of martyrs an inspiration for generations and took a dig at BJP-RSS saying “those who do not fight for the country will not understand.”

Merging Amar Jawan Jyoti with the flame at the National War Memorial triggered sharp reactions from Congress and opposition parties. 

The grand old party accused the BJP government of “removing history” with Rahul Gandhi saying some people cannot understand patriotism and sacrifice.

The former Congress president had also said that the party will light the Amar Jawan Jyoti once again.

“It is a matter of great sadness that the immortal flame for our brave soldiers will be extinguished today. Some people cannot understand patriotism and sacrifice – never mind…We will once again light the ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ for our soldiers,” the Wayanad MP tweeted in Hindi.

The Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate was merged with the eternal flame at the National War Memorial (NWM) on January 21.

It was constructed as a memorial for Indian soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in the 1971 India-Pakistan war and was inaugurated by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, on January 26, 1972.

Rahul Gandhi had wished people on Republic Day and posted a picture of the Amar Jawan Jyoti at its erstwhile position at India Gate.

Responding to this, the BJP hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for opposing the merger of Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate with the flame at NWM with Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri saying that the flame at the Amar Jawan Jyoti was under the British established building because a National War Memorial was not built by the Congress government.