The Hindu : National : British team’s visit to Residency cancelled

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Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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British team’s visit to Residency cancelled

Special Correspondent

They were to pay homage to forefathers who lost their lives in the Great Uprising of 1857

Safety of members cited as reason for cancellation
A setback for culture tourism in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: The visit of a 19-member team of British historians and tourists, supported by the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) to the Residency and other places in Lucknow on Tuesday was cancelled. Safety of the team members was cited as the reason considering that the Bharatiya Janata Party had announced to oppose the visit.

The British team reached Lucknow from Gwalior on Monday night and was immediately whisked away to the Taj Residency and the Park Inn Hotel amid tight security after the BJP and the Bajrang Dal activists staged a protest before they were shooed away by the police. The team would leave for Kanpur on Wednesday morning, en route to Allahabad, said the Special Secretary of the State Home Department, R.P. Arora. He said the team members did not visit the Residency.

Though the leader of the team and Honorary Secretary of BACSA, Rosie Llwellyn Jones, refused to comment, sources said the decision was taken when the team reached Lucknow. The British team was to visit the ruins of the Residency on Wednesday to pay homage to those who lost their lives in the First War of Independence in 1857, or the Great Uprising. The graves of the relatives of some members of the group, who had lost their lives in the conflict at the Residency, were spruced up by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Following the BJP’s threat to disrupt the visit, the police and the Rapid Action Force were deployed at the monument. The district administration, working on the directives of the State government echoed the Principal Secretary (Home) J.N. Chamber’s line that the British would be allowed to lay flowers on the graves of their relatives, but no celebrations to commemorate 1857 would be allowed.

The political brouhaha over the visit is being considered a setback for “cemetery” or culture tourism in Uttar Pradesh. The team included Sir Mark Havelock, a descendant of General Henry Havelock, who led the British forces along with James Outram to recapture the Residency on September 25, 1857. Also, a descendant of Sir Auckland Colvin was in the team.

A press release issued by the team here described the visit as “The Palanquin Historians Tour.” It said the team comprises a group of international historians and tourists with a long association and deep affection for India. It further said that they were here to see some of the great heritage sights in India’s history and to find out more about the events of the Uprising. The team would visit cemeteries where relatives of some members of the group who lost their lives in the “tragic conflict” were buried, said the release. According to BACSA, remains of around two million British and other Europeans lie in cemeteries through out the Indian sub-continent.

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