Today 21st Nov 2014, 16:23 hours, I just read the news that the Supreme Court of India had rejected the PIL against dismantle/shatter INS Vikrant, following which breaking down of the iconic war ship has begun. Very heartening. The PIL is to preserve the vessel and convert it to a maritime museum.
Why is the government not inclined to preserve anything that will pave way to inspire or get to know about our history, however small or large the importance of it. While the argument against this PIL is that the Maharashtra Government don’t have enough money to maintain and museum’ise the warship instead court for its dem’ise.
For a country which spends so much on celebrating heroes (gender insignificant) why can’t it spend on preserving assets that made those heroes?
Some can say that it is not ‘that great’ an icon, it was just bought from British yada yada yada.. but why would you keep destroying any piece of history because someone thinks that it’s not really iconic because they can’t spend? Something is better than nothing.
My concern is not about INS Vikrant alone, we as a country (central and state Govt equally) do not consider history as a thing to be preserved in its tangible form. Wiki pages should not just be the way to find about things. INS Vikrant is only one such case, I also read about the “Ruined Alamparai fort” is being further ruined due to non-maintenance. Why people in power aren’t realizing the need to preserve history. In a way, it pays back, a revenue generator if you are thinking of returns.
