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| Heritage park, Allahabad, UP.SlideShare |
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Earl of Minto, gov. gen.of Canada & viceroy of India,en.wikipedi.org |
Minto Park, located in the southern part of the city of Allahabad along the banks of Yamuna river is one of the most popular tourist attractions in this old city. Now, renamed as Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Park, after the great Indian patriot, educationist and freedom fighter against British Imperialism, often referred to as Mahamana. He was also the founder of Banarus Hindu University (BHU), a reputed Indian university. The The park that came up on a site close to Saraswati and Nehru Ghats on Yamuna Bank Road, is a historical site where the most important political event took place. It changed the course of British India history.
On this site lord Canning read out the declaration of Queen Victoria's Proclamation in 1858. Indian subcontinent came under the direct control of the British Crown. Till then the East India company had run the subcontinent since mid 1600s as proxy for the British government. Most of the company officials were corrupt and their administration was oppressive and discriminatory. They took away the lands from the Maharajahs and Nawabs through conceit, coercion and diabolism. To cap it all, they had scant respect for the religious sentiments of the Muslims and Hindus and criticised their religious traditions and convictions. The simmering hatred toward them ultimately led to Sepoy Mutiny in 1958 that lasted for more than 2 years, causing death and destruction to properties on both sides. Indians, in thousands, were executed without trials. Equally furious were the Indian soldiers who, in a fit of rage, killed innocent British, including women and children.. The crown at last interfered and took over the administration from the corrupt and misguided ESI to stop further Chaos. Thus India became an important British Colony, a cash cow, filling up the coffers of Britain.
Queen Victoria' Proclamation:
In the wake of bloody Indian Rebellion (1857), the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act, transferring the rights and administrative authority of the East India Company to the British Crown. 'These governmental changes were announced to the ‘Princes, Chiefs and People of India’ in the form of the proclamation issued by Queen Victoria
(1837–1901). Seeking to maintain peace after the Rebellion, the whole message of the Proclamation was one of generosity and benevolence. It granted ‘the Natives of Our Indian Territories’ the same rights as ‘all Our other Subjects’ and, among other things, promised to support religious toleration, to recognise the ‘Customs of India’, to end racial discrimination and to ensure that ‘all shall alike enjoy the equal impartial protection of the Law’. By recognising Indians as British subjects, and extending to them rights consistent with that status, the Proclamation was widely heralded by Indian subjects, including Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), as their Magna Carta'.
Lord Minto, then Governor General of India in 1910 laid a foundation stone for this park to commemorate the transfer of power from EIC to the Crown. Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto KG GCIE PC (9 July 1845 – 1 March 1914) was a British aristocrat and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the eighth since Canadian Confederation (1898 to 1904), and as Viceroy and Governor-General of India, the country's 17th (from 1905 to 1910). In his memory, a school from which Aligarh Muslim University evolved was named after Minto. It is called Minto Circle because of his generous funding for construction of new school buildings.
There is a white memorial stone in the Minto Park. with our ferocious looking lions. There is also a park named after him in Kolkata.
http://www.holidayiq.com/Minto-Park-Allahabad-Sightseeing-264-1541.html
