Ambala’s 1857 War Memorial to have Red Fort museum’s technology

The under-construction Shaheedi Smarak (war memorial) dedicated to the first war of independence in 1857, being set up on NH-44 in Ambala Cantonment, is set to feature the state-of-the-art technology being used at the Red Fort museum in New Delhi.

Last month, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and home minister Anil Vij, along with a team of officials, had visited the newly-built museum at Red Fort to learn and inspect the technology used to display the historical facts and the role of uprising heroes from Ambala.

The war memorial, which is being set up at a cost of ₹300 crore on 22 acres, is the largest such covered structure in the country.

Speaking about it, Kuldeep Saini, additional director (field/technical), department of information, public relations and languages, said the memorial will commemorate the martyrs through digital technology, short films and light-and-sound shows.

“Hologram statues will also be part of the project. In the art section, the writing work is underway. A consultant who has worked at the Red Fort museum will now be part of the war memorial team. He will present a report on gadgets to be used and how the artwork will be exhibited, after getting clearance from a six-member committee of historians,” he added.

Vij said that the smarak will showcase the uprising in three sections, starting from Ambala’s role in the first, followed by Haryana’s role in the second and the martyrs across the country in the last section.

The Ambala uprising

The state government, citing KC Yadav’s work on various newly-discovered British Raj documents, has affirmed that the 1857 uprising first started in Ambala Cantonment, hours before it took place in Meerut.

Yadav in his book titled ‘The Revolt of 1857 in Haryana’ documented the facts and was part of the project until his death in May last year.

His colleague, UV Singh, former head of the history department at SD College in Cantt, said the then deputy commissioner, Umballa (now Ambala), on May 10, 1857, wrote to chief commissioner of Punjab in Rawulpindee (now Rawalpindi in Pakistan) Sir John Lawrence about the 5th and 60th regiment raising weapons at a morning parade.

“At around 9 am on May 10, the 60th regiment surrounded the Holy Redeemer church, but was soon encircled by the British forces and the uprising was suppressed. Later at noon, the 5th regiment revolted at different government offices, as planned and an untoward situation was averted again too,” Singh, one of the historians engaged with the war memorial project, said.

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