FROM CHANDAN NANDY
New Delhi, Nov. 17:
Home minister L.K. Advani today requested Myanmarese counterpart Maung
Aye to ensure that Yangon take proper care of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s
mausoleum at Mandalay, where he was banished by the British.
Advani believes that Bahadur Shah, the symbol around whom India’s first
war of independence was fought in 1857, is more Indian than Pakistani
and fears that Islamabad might try to appropriate the remains of the
last Mughal emperor because of his origins.
He told reporters today that Pakistan’s chief executive Pervez Musharraf
might raise the mausoleum issue during his December visit to Myanmar and
try to convince Yangon that the emperor who died in the infamous
Mandalay prison in 1862 is part of Pakistani history.
“Pakistan may try to appropriate Bahadur Shah’s remains even though he
was the symbol of India’s first war of independence. In fact, Bahadur
Shah also represented a section of India’s fight against colonialism,”
he told a select group of reporters.
“So I asked my Myanmarese counterpart whether the Indian government can
contribute money for the maintenance and upkeep of the mausoleum.”
Aye is believed to have assured the home minister that his government
would do everything possible to restore the mausoleum to its original
glory.
Advani, however, said that the vice-chairman of the State Peace and
Development Committee — the country’s ruling junta — made it clear that
his government wouldn’t do anything to “convert the mausoleum into a
religious place”.
But he added that the “Indian government would be happy if Myanmar
accords due recognition to Bahadur Shah’s grave”.
After putting in his request, it was Advani’s turn to reciprocate with a
similar gesture.
He told Aye that the Centre will do its best to restore the grandeur of
a particular place in Ratnagiri, south Maharashtra, where the remains of
the last Buddhist monarch of Burma, King Thibaw, lie buried.
King Thibaw died in Ratnagiri, an ancient centre of Buddhist
architecture, during his exile following his defeat in the Anglo-Burma
war in the 1860s.
------------------
Comment