CM to open Partition Museum on Aug 17

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 13

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will inaugurate the Partition Museum here on August 17. The move has sparked a row as the then Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal had inaugurated a partially complete museum in October last year.

Former BJP minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla has written to the CM over the reason for the “re-inauguration”. She even flayed the previous regime for opening the museum in a heritage building.

The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust (TAACHT), a not-for-profit NGO, is behind the setting up of the museum in Town Hall building. TAACHT chairperson Kishwar Desai said Sukhbir had inaugurated the museum, but it was the opening of only three galleries. “We have now added 10 galleries. We had even announced at that time that it was just a curtain-raiser,” she said.

She said her Trust was a non-political and non-partisan body and it appreciated the support of the previous Akali-BJP and the present Congress government. She said it was high time to collect and showcase objects associated with the Partition.

“Seventy years have passed since the catastrophic event struck the subcontinent. After a few years, we may not have people who witnessed it. More people are approaching us with their tales of horror and objects of that time to display at the museum,” she said.