Veterans,
I am sticking my neck out on a subject which will raise the hackles of a lot of us who are in a "confrontation mode" against the government at Jantar Mantar. Having turned 83 yrs yesterday, I think I will take the risk of being a contrarian.
Friends, we are watching the spectacle of a number of 'so called' eminent writers, artistes, scientists and film makers returning their supposedly 'deserved' awards received under the previous regime. A lot of them have been exposed of their having got the awards singing praises about Congress leaders. Most of them were selective about which cause they bleated about when bigger misdeeds of the previous government were not even whispered about eg., Bihar riots of 1967(my unit was called up), Hashimpura massacre, Bhagalpur killings, ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits, Sikh riots of Delhi. There has been endless complaining about the thousand odd people killed from both communities in Ahmedabad in 2002 but forget about thousands of the minority community killed in a 4 day of orgy in 1969 under a Congress government, before the Army was called up and peace was restored within a few hours, without killing anyone in a few hours. I was witness to it as commanding officer of a unit. And what about the beheading of soldiers by Pakistan, because of whose sacrifice they are able to write/research/work without any fear. If the soldier were not to stand guard at the border these people would actually be snuffed out instead of being only feeling suffocated.
Why did not these stalwarts, who feel suffocated under the present dispensation, even raise a whimper of protest on those occasions. The reason being that had they had done so, their perks and awards would have been forfeited and the gravy train stopped. Being small men they did not want to risk that. The problem is that even our judiciary and bureaucracy, during the emergency imposed by the same benefactors of theirs, crawled when asked to bend, except for few exceptions.
Veterans, surely we do not want to be in the same group of self serving people. We too returned our medals in 2008 but there is a major difference. We did not get our medals out of anybody's largesse, they were earned. But we were angry that though we had never stinted in doing our duty by the Nation with all the handicaps of shortage of warlike stores, lack of political clarity of our national aim and poor intelligence, while being shortchanged with our salaries and consequently, pensions. The last straw on the camel's back was the 6th CPC award which showed that the UPA government was not interested in the izzat and welfare of the soldiers and, therefore the security of the Nation. Worse is that we saw no benefit to the country even if we were deprived of our essential equipment and paid a pittance in comparison with our contemporaries in the civil services, as the powers that be were only interested in lining their pockets. The defence budget has been the Kamdhenu cow of our rulers so far. Hope this changes under the present dispensation.
Friends, you all must be aware that the present government has done a lot to improve our ability to fight in the last 18 months, more than the Congress governments have done in nearly 60 years when they were in power! I am sure with the PM and RM on our side they will also be able overcome the rearguard action being fought by the bureaucracy and we will get what we deserve. So I would recommend that we should not be on the same page as the 'eminent' people returning their awards.
Let us give up our Jantar Mantar agitation and give the government time till Diwali to redeem its promises, as stated by the RM. You know very well as a soldier that you become more determined when you work under a threat, so lets not push the government beyond a point. We have already made the government conscious of the fact that if the OROP award is not to our liking, we are willing to negotiate. Further if the negotiations fail we will seek legal remedies. The government is fully aware that we are only seeking our legal entitlements and as always, the courts will give us what the government tries to deny us. So fellow Veterans, lets us close down our protest at Jantar Mantar and give the PM & RM time to stand by their promises.
Wishing you all a very happy Diwali with your families and friends.
Lt Gen SK Bahri PVSM
[ Tri Services India ] 30 October 2015 at 22:25
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