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154 names added to police Wall of Valour as Amit Shah salutes 36,852 martyrs
On Police Commemoration Day, the Home Minister recalled the 1959 Hot Springs ambush and credited the central forces with a Bengal election held without a single death.
Key points
- Amit Shah paid tribute to 36,852 police personnel killed on duty since Independence.
- 154 names were added to the memorial this year and read out by the Intelligence Bureau director.
- Shah said the central forces ran the Bengal Assembly polls without a single loss of life.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah paid tribute on Wednesday to the 36,852 police personnel who have died on duty since Independence, as 154 more names were added to the Wall of Valour at the National Police Memorial in New Delhi.
The names of this year’s martyrs were read out at the Police Commemoration Day ceremony by the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, before Shah reviewed a joint parade of the Central Armed Police Forces and Delhi Police and laid a wreath at the memorial in Chanakyapuri.
“This year, 154 more brave personnel have been added to this list,” Shah said. “With folded hands, I offer my salutations to these martyrs.”
He called the memorial, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation in 2018, a place of pilgrimage. “This site has become a place of pilgrimage for citizens from all over the country,” he said.
Remembering Hot Springs
The day marks the ambush of 21 October 1959 at Hot Springs in Ladakh, when ten CRPF personnel were killed by Chinese troops. Shah said the men knew the odds once the fighting began but were determined that “not even an inch of our land should fall into foreign hands”.
He spoke at length about the demands of police work. Of all forms of government service, he said, “the most demanding and challenging is, without a doubt, service in the police force.” Policemen and women stand guard during Raksha Bandhan, Holi, Diwali and Eid, when other families celebrate together, and spend long stretches away from their own homes, which he called “a truly profound act of service”.
“Far from their homes, they remain ever-vigilant, be it during elections, festivals, public demonstrations,” he said.
Credit for the Bengal polls
Shah singled out the Central Armed Police Forces for their role in guarding borders and running elections, saying that safeguarding democracy could not be imagined without them. He pointed to West Bengal, where elections have in the past been marked by deadly violence, and said the forces had achieved “remarkable success in conducting the Bengal Assembly elections without a single loss of life”.
“It is now widely acknowledged that the entire country has become free from election-related violence,” he said.
What comes next
Shah also urged police forces to stay committed for the next three years to make India drug-free by 2029. The commemoration continues through the week. From 22 to 30 October the central forces and police organisations will hold events at the memorial, including visits by martyrs’ families, band displays, a Run for Martyrs and blood donation camps, with state police forces holding similar programmes. A motorcycle rally of about 90 police riders that Shah flagged off is heading to Ekta Nagar in Gujarat for the Ekta Parade on 31 October.