MILITARY TOURISM - Hussainiwala: the resting place of India’s firebrand revolutionaries

As you enter the village of Hussainiwala situated on the banks of Sutlej in the Ferozepur district of Punjab, the mud houses and the green fields give feel of a place straight out of the yesteryears movies. But this small village on the border of India and Pakistan has a special place in the history.

Three of the country’s martyrs- Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were cremated here on March 23, 1931. Bronze sculptures of the three are etched on a wall of pink sandstone.


On the dark night of March 23, 1931 they were executed at the Lahore Central Jail, a day earlier than scheduled, to avoid mass protests. Their bodies were cremated amid secrecy on the banks of the Sutlej at Ferozepur-Hussainiwala.

It is also the cremation place of B.K. Dutta (Batu Keshwar Dutta) who was also involved in bombing in parliament with Bhagat Singh and died in 1976. His last wish was to cremate him at the place where Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were cremated. Mother of Bhagat Singh, Vidyawati, was also

cremated there as per her last wish and later she was awarded with title of 'Punjab Mata'.

Besides the memory stones laid to mark the sacrifices made by the young freedom fighters, stands an old fort structure bearing signs of the artillery attack by Pakistan in 1971. Across the old fort lies the bridge that was blasted by Indian Army engineers during the 1971 war to prevent Pakistani tanks from entering Indian Territory. The village is still referred to as Ghulam Hussainiwala.

A small settlement, Hussainiwala is 7 km from the district headquarters town of Ferozepur and only 3 km from the international border.

Hussainiwala, being at the border, had to bear the brunt of the two major wars fought between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. This explains the mud houses in the village as villagers have to leave their houses at the slightest signs of tensions between the two countries. Here the Sutlej forms

the international border between the two countries and the Pakistani soil starts right at the end of the bridge across Sutlej.

Hussainiwala derives its name after Ghulam Hussain, the mazaar of whom now falls on the other side of the border. Among the Punjabi folk, the village is still referred by its original name, Ghulam Hussainiwala.

(Photos courtesy Sitanshu Kar)

Tamil Nadu to have country’s first maritime museum

Keeping in line with the rich maritime heritage of Tamil Nadu dating back to the times of Chola Dynasty with a strong naval force, the state Chief Minister J Jayalalitha will soon give approval to set up the country’s first maritime museum in the state under Project Samudram.

A proposal for a maritime heritage tourism package Project Samudram is an abbreviation for Sea Shore Archaeological Museums of the Dravidian Mainland encompassing Chennai, Mamallapuram, Alamparai, Sadras, Puducheri,Porto Novo and Kaveripoompattinam in Tamil Nadu.

The proposal was mooted by the Indian Navy that has offered to give its decommissioned Foxtrot class submarine – INS Vagli to the state government to be kept as the centre piece at the museum.

Sources told the Sunday Express, “The Ministry of Defence has given in principle approval to the project and the proposal is now with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for final approval.” The state government had earlier accepted the Navy’s offer.

Once the final nod from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s comes the completion of Maritime Heritage Museum including a Maritime Research Centre will take around one year.

Talking about the project, a naval official said: “The Chola naval conquests are well known and Tamil Nadu has been taking a good interest in preserving its rich maritime heritage. Also in modern times, the state has the potential to emerge as the leading maritime state of India, because of its strategically located ports, academic institutions connected with the maritime sector, and as the home of a large private sector ship building yard. The proposed museum is in line with this maritime consciousness of the state.”

(First two pics - INS Vagli and decommissioning of the Fixtrot submarine. Third pic - INS Kursura at the submarine museum at RK Beach Visakhapatnam)

The project will also serve two purposes of attracting the youth of Tamil Nadu to take a career in maritime sector and to boost tourism in the state by projecting the unique museum as a major highlight in the state’s tourism circuit.

While the Indian Navy has a submarine museum at Visakhapatnam’s RK Beach where a Kursura class submarine is open for visitors, the scale of Tamil Nadu maritime museum is unprecedented. Around 30 acres land has already been earmarked off north of Chennai for the construction of the museum.

INS Vagli, the oldest operational submarine of the Indian Navy, undertook its last dive on July 21, 2010 and was decommissioned later that year.