RS nod to remove Cong chief as Jallianwala trustee

The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill that seeks to remove the Congress president as a trustee of the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial.

The Upper House passed The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, which deletes the provision of the Congress chief being a permanent member of the trust which runs the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial, by a voice vote.

The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill on August 2, which also paves the way for the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha to be a member of the trust.

Replying to the debate, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel said this bill would end the political colour which the trust earlier had.

Taking a dig at the opposition, he said that they have no problem with other provisions of the bill but only with the one in which the party president is being removed as trustee.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Saifuddin Kitchlew and Maulana Azad were members of the trust when it was formed in 1951. "Nehru attended as Congress president and not as Prime Minister," he said, adding after Nehru, Kitchlew and Azad died, their seats were not filled.

Moreover, Indira Gandhi once attended the meeting in 1970 and at that time she was the Prime Minister of the country and Jagjivan Ram, who was the Congress President, did not get the chance to attend, Patel said.

The management committee of the trust includes former governor R L Bhatia, MP Amritsar, two MLAs of Amritsar, Mayor of the city, Culture Minister of Punjab and Chairman of the Improvement Board Amritsar, he added.