A TIME TO COME TOGETHER & HEAL
AN OPEN LETTER To Lt Fen RAJ KADYAN
Dear Raj,
As your course mate, I have steadfastly, over the past two years, refused to criticise you both privately and publicly, not withstanding inter coy rivalry in the good old days between Casino and Zozila. Sekhri, a NCC entry, was with me in Casino.
You are aware that right from the beginning, I have writing to 121 to reconcile and strengthen the fight for a genuine OROP.. I know that you too are of the opinion that what was sanctioned by the Govt, was NOT OROP.
When I took my premature retirement, my pension was less that INR 5,000.99. Over the successive years, till before the new govt came into power, my [ension had increased by more than 12 times, none of it kind courtesy any BJP govt.
Yes, successive govts over tha past 7 decades consistently downgraded the soldier, but never before has any govt gone to the extent that this govt has, by every means possible. Today we are placed below the shoe soles of the CAPFs.
The two illustrious Air Force offrs, who were successively governors of the state that I have been resident of for many yrs now, would have turned in their graves when a veteran Air Chief, was termed ;'Chote Log' in the August Parliament by no less than the RM himself. I heard him live, and I was boiling with anger for days thereafter. I am sure you too would have cringed a bit.
After the in initial alms doled out by the Govt, which it tom-tomed as the real and final OROP,, it made a large section of the Country believe that the soldiers were a greedy lot. It also went all out to divide and rule the veterans and have been successful to a certain extent.
Of late, even the Chiefs are being taken for a ride. You are aware, how after promising the Chiefs that payment of NFU shall be made by end Apr, (Based on which the Army Chief rptd the same recently in his address at the Staff College), the GoI has gone and filed a SLP. It's a pity that the Army Chief does not now know which way to look. Of course, he and the others lack the moral courage to resign.
From the beginning I had been stressing on Satbir that our emphasis should not be a few pieces of silver, but Honour and Dignity of the Soldier, so blatantly crushed under their feet. My Blog site, (Samuel's World, with over 170 articles) and my fb page, (With nearly 2,500 friends, each an owner of the page), have the same aim, "Restoration of the Honour & Dignity of the Soldier". During my one visit to JM on Nov 29, last year, I had stressed on the issue before all, including Satbir. I had, then, also stressed on the issue of renaming our organisations as Veteran's Organisation since the phrase, 'Ex Servicemen' was taken out of use by a GoI order in 2007, after a long delay of 23 yrs. Unfortunately, even after the issue of that order, our community, as well as the GoI continued the use of 'Ex Servicemen' in all their titles and correspondences. Its only a week or two back that the GoI has finally renamed the retired soldier's cell in the MOD as 'Veteran's Welfare;
As children we all read the story of the homily of the single stick Vs a bundle of sticks.
Posterity will either honour us or shame us, for achieving/not achieving an achievable goal, by being single sticks. I have read those obituaries fwd by you. Since when a soldier, still breathing, calls himself 'Dead'? I pity those who have written them.
TIME IS NOW, Dear Raj.
It takes a brave person to forgive others and move on. Being your course mate, I know that you have always displayed, unadulterated bravery. I know you and your team can do it and find a way out to forge a united alliance, which the Govt will have to sit up and take notice of. We owe it to our still surviving seniors, our peers, our younger colleagues and last, but not the least, the following generations of soldiers and their dependants.
For the last two months I was out of the Country and will again be out for another month to SE and E Asia. On my return, I shall be commencing a 5 yrs journey towards a doctorate in Divinity. I shall, however, try my best to come to Delhi
What I have submitted to my friend here, applies equally to Satbir and his team/ A copy of this, therefore, goes to the JM team.
This letter will also be uploaded both to my Blog Site as well as to the fb page of myself and my 2,500 friends.
Regards and God bless,
Johnny
