Shri L.K. Advaniji's letter to PM

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh ji,

Today is May 10, and it marks the beginning of the 150th year of a sacred event in our country's history – India's First War of Independence in 1857. It was the day when Shaheed Mangal Pandey blew the bugle of war of freedom with his martyrdom in Meerut.

And I am writing this letter to urge you to ensure that the Government of India commemorate this anniversary in a befitting manner.

The great patriotic rising of 1857 always has a special place in the minds and hearts of every Indian. It was the first pan-India manifestation of an organised struggle for freedom from alien rule. Its significance is not in the least diminished by the fact that it failed to achieve its goal then. Rather, it lies in the unmistakable message it served to the British that the people of India were unwilling to live in colonial slavery and, further, that they were prepared to make any sacrifice in their struggle to live as a free nation.

1857 will also be remembered for another ever-relevant message. It demonstrated that the Hindus and Muslims of India, as also people of all castes and classes in our society, could unite for the noble cause of freedom of the Motherland. One of the earliest lessons in patriotism that I learnt was from Veer Savarkar's "India's War of Independence, 1857", which I read at the age of 15 by procuring this book, which was banned by the British, from an underground store. In this book, Savarkar, who himself later spent over a decade in solitary confinement in the dreaded Cellular Jail in the Andamans, writes that those were the days when "Hindus and Mahomedans proclaimed that India was their country and that they were all brethren, the days when Hindus and Mahomedans unanimously raised the flag of national freedom at Delhi. Be those grand days ever memorable in the history of Hindustan!"

1857 no doubt reminds us of the need to strengthen the patriotic unity among all the people of India. But since it took place at a time when India was not yet tragically partitioned into what have now become three independent and sovereign nations in the Indian subcontinent, and since patriots who took part in that struggle hailed nearly from all parts of undivided India – from Peshawar to Dhaka -- commemorating the 150th anniversary of 1857 also affords an opportunity for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to recall our shared past, and thus strengthen our resolve to promote peace and cooperation in the subcontinent and also in South Asia at large.

You will recall that, in his address to the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad in January 2004, former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had made a suggestion that the 150th anniversary of 1857 should be commemorated as a tri-nation event. Of course, this would be in addition to national commemoration of it within India. I had reiterated this idea when I visited Pakistan last year. I gathered from my talks in Pakistan that there was receptivity towards this idea.

I strongly urge you to consider the following specific suggestions:

    (1) Constitute a broadbased National Committee for the Commemoration of 150th Anniversary of 1857 – India's First War of Independence.

    (2) Use the mass media (both government-owned and private) and educational institutions (both public and private) for an effective yearlong campaign to educate the people about 1857.

    (3) Identify all the places in the country associated with the martyrs, heroes and events of 1857, and unveil a plan for their renovation.

    (4) Write to the heads of Pakistan and Bangladesh to explore the possibility of some kind of joint tri-nation commemoration of 1857.

I trust that this letter will receive your urgent and serious consideration.

Warm regards,


Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
7 Race Course Road
New Delhi.