Picture : Twitter / ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to the fallen soldiers at the newly-built National War Memorial in the nation’s capital on the Republic Day for the first time instead of the Amar Jawan Jyoti beneath the India Gate arch.
The iconic memorial in the India Gate complex behind the canopy was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 25 last year.
Delhi: PM Modi leads the nation in paying tributes to soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty, by laying a wreath at National War Memorial. CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, Army Chief Gen Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh, Air Force Chief Air Marshal RKS Bhaduria present. pic.twitter.com/CGTWo2Co4Y
— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2020
Amar Jawan Jyoti is symbolised by an inverted bayonet and soldier’s helmet over it with an eternal flame burning beside it. It was built in 1972 underneath the India Gate arch to commemorate soldiers martyred in the Indo-Pak War of 1971.
Spread over an area of approximately 40 acres, National War Memorial comprises four concentric circles, namely — the ‘Amar Chakra’, ‘Veerta Chakra’, ‘Tyag Chakra’ and the ‘Rakshak Chakra’ with names of 25,942 soldiers inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets.
