Lucknow: A programme to mark the June 30 anniversary of the 1857 Battle of Chinhat was held on Monday.Forces led by Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah defeated Colonel Lawrence’s troops in the Battle of Chinhat, said Athar Husain of Centre for Objective Research and Development (CORD).Husain, along with Prof Ramesh Dixitji, Mohammad Rashid, Anurag Mishra, Imran Ahmad, Sushil Babu, Pawan Yadav, Hafeez Kidwai and associates, attended the event.Lawrence had been regarded as invincible due to earlier British victories in America, participants said.Speakers recalled that the battle was followed by a three-month siege of the Lucknow Residency. The meeting, held at the Kanshiram Institute of Tourism Management campus in Chinhat, drew lawyers, academicians and political activists and took place near a memorial at the site believed to have witnessed the fighting.Addressing the gathering, Dixit demanded that a dedicated Chinhat Victory Memorial be built to commemorate the Indian victory. Organisers said Shah’s force included soldiers, workers, peasants, zamindars, and Hindus and Muslims, calling the episode an enduring lesson in unity against tyranny.
