PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 321
There is only one point that requires to be considered and that is that the original trustee mentioned in the Bill, the late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is now no more, and the House has to consider a substitute for him. The rest of the Bill is just as it was proposed by the original trustees who were acting as trustees for these purposes.
Mr. Chairman: Motion moved:
“That the Bill to provide for the erection and management of a National memorial to perpetuate the memory of those killed or wounded on the 13th day of April, 1919, in Jallianwala Bagh, be taken into consideration.”
Shri Kamath (Madhya Pradesh) : It is in the fitness of things that a Bill of this nature has been brought before this House. It is over thirty years ago that this massacre at Jallianwala Bagh took place and hundreds of our countrymen and women were either killed...
Dr. Tek Chand : Two thousand—not hundreds.
Shri Kamath: Killed?
Dr. Tek Chand: Yes, two thousand killed.
Shri Kamath: ………thousands were either killed or wounded. The Congress, as the statement of objects and reasons shows, passed a resolution in 1919 proposing to acquire a piece of land and to build a memorial thereon to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh. We have not been told by the Law Minister who moved the Bill what amount exactly was collected for this purpose. He said “about ten lakhs”, but he has not got the exact figure with him………….
Dr. Ambedkar: I said about ten lakhs—I can give the exact figure later.
Shri Kamath : …….and how much of that amount has been utilised in acquiring the site whereon the proposed memorial is to be erected. It is wholesome that Government, the first Government of Free India, should take note of a resolution passed by the Congress many years ago and try to give effect to it. But, Sir, alongside of this certain other questions also arise. As I have already said, the Bill seeks to perpetuate the