Kunwar Singh to get a statue, road in Delhi

NEW DELHI, Jun 19 (UNI) Acting on a complaint from a Delhi citizen, the Delhi government has decided to name a road after Babu Vir Kuwar Singh, one of the greatest heroes of the 1857 First War of Independence.

The Urban Development Department of the Delhi Government has asked the NDMC Chairman and the Commissioner of the Muncipal Committee of Delhi (MCD) in their areas to ''suggest a suitable unnamed road'' for being named as 'Babu Vir Kuwar Singh Marg'.

The Department of Urban Development got cracking after Radha Krishna Kumar, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, dashed off a latter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to install a statue of the martyr and name a road after him as a gesture of paying tribute to him.

''With a heavy heart, I would like to say that the Government of India has uptil now ignored and virtually insulted the great warrior of the First War of Independence Babu Vir Kuwar Singh by forgetting his contribution,'' Kumar said in his letter.

Pointing out that Kunwar Singh played a stellar role in arousing the patriotic fervour and spirit of independence during the 1857 War of Independence, he lamented that the Centre had not even remembered aven after the elapse of more than 60 years of freedom.

''I am writing this letter as a patriotic and duty-bound citizen...to remind you the obligation which the country owes to the martyrs who sacrified their lives for the independence of the country,'' the lawyer wrote in his letter to the Prime Minister.

The letter was subsequently sent by the Prime Minister's Office to the Department of Urban Development, Delhi Goverment, which has now decided to take action on it.

Vinayak Tope opened a small grocery shop in January last year.

Earlier, he was able to get some food from his 'jajmans' (masters) by conducting religious ceremonies from them.

Expressing concern, Jaiswal said ''it is unfortunate that Vinayak Rao Tope's wife Saraswati Devi had to pay a bribe to secure sanction of pension in 1995 which is yet to see the light of the day.'' Saraswati Devi reportedly paid Rs 500 as bribe for pension.

Daughter Pragati is a teacher in the Laxmibai School on the salary of only Rs 600 a month.

Her elder sister Pravriti, a graduate, is still unemployed.

In May 1857, when the political storm was gathering momentum against the British rule, Tatya Tope won over the Indian troops of the East India Company, stationed at Kanpur, established Nana Saheb's authority and became the Commander-in-Chief of his revolutionary forces.

Tantya Tope, whose real name was Ram Chandra Pandurang, was born in 1814 at village Gola in Maharashtra.

His father, Pandurang Rao Tope was an important noble at the court of the Peshwa Baji Rao II.

He shifted his family with the ill-fated Peshwa to Bithur where his son became the most intimate friend of the Peshwa's adopted son, Nana Dhundu Pant, known as Nana Saheb.

After the reoccupation of Kanpur and separation from Nana Saheb, Tantya Tope shifted his headquarters to Kalpi to join hands with Rani Lakshmi Bai and led a revolt in Bundelkhand.

He was routed at Betwa, Koonch and Kalpi, but reached Gwalior and declared Nana Saheb as Peshwa with the support of the Gwalior contingent.

Before he could consolidate his position, General Hugh Rose defeated him in a memorable battle in which Rani Lakshmi Bai underwent martyrdom.

After losing Gwalior to the British, he launched a successful guerilla campaign in the Sagar and Narmada regions and in Khandesh and Rajasthan.

The British forces failed to subdue him for over a year.

He was, however, betrayed into the hands of the British by his trusted friend Man Singh, Chief of Narwar, while asleep in his camp in the Paron forest.

He was captured and taken to Sipri where he was tried by a military court and despatched to the gallows on April 18, 1859.