Last Union Jack wasn’t lowered in ’47, but 27 yrs later

KOLKATA: When was the Union Jackbrought down for the last time on Indian territory, to be replaced by theTricolour? 1947? Wrong! It was 27 years after that ��� if you were to go bywhat is written on a marble plaque at Metiabruz Imambara in Kolkata, once thecapital of British India and the second city of the Empire.This ishard to believe, but that is what is written on the plaque at the historicImambara. The plaque, unveiled by former MP and Cabinet minister of West BengalTarun Kanti Ghosh reads: ������National Flag (replacing the Britishflag, Union Jack) was unfurled on this monument 27 years after independence onJanuary 26, 1975 by S M Abdullah, chairman, Garden Reach Municipality, organizedby prince Nayyer Quder, the newly appointed first nationalist trustee of king ofOudh���s Trust.������This text is followed by anotherinteresting nugget, engraved in smaller print, which reads: ������Amidstgreat opposition by the removed trustees and kin, the British-loyalist haremdescendants of Wajid Ali Shah.������ Historian Amalendu Dey, who came toknow about the plaque from this correspondent, was taken aback.������Thanks for sharing this new information with me. It���s hardto believe that the Union Jack fluttered on the monument for 27 years afterIndependence. It���s really interesting,������ hesaid.Prince Nayyer Quder, the great-grandson of the poet king whohad been deposed from his Oudh takht by the British in 1857, said:������Our branch of the family is the direct descendant of great freedomfighters Begum Hazrat Mahal and Birjis Qadr. Those who were in charge of theImambara Trust before us were not freedom fighters.������Theaffairs of the Sibtainabad Imambara ��� popularly known as MetiabruzImambara ��� are now handled by this Lakhnavi branch of the family, whichgot the responsibility of running the trust on October 1, 1974.