Sacrifices Of Our Soldiers

Is the nation’s admiration for its defence forces restricted only to posting comments on social networking platforms or does it exceed these formal acts to actually acknowledge the sacrifices made by its soldiers for the betterment of the country! Considering the excitement over the Bollywood production URI which gave the nation the iconic phrase, “How’s the Josh”,  immortalized by late chief minister Manohar Parrikar, it was expected that the mere mention of our armed forces would bring forth an unmasked pride among the civil population of the country. But it is observed that these salutations tend to be more profuse in the aftermath of some momentous occasion like when surgical strikes were carried out on extremists’’ camps on Pakistan soil, or say the Kargil Vijay Diwas on July 26! It was extremely humiliating to know that a Kargil War hero who was awarded the Vir Chakra for exceptional gallantry was working as a traffic policeman in Punjab after his discharge from army. It is all the more painful to learn that he was awarded the Vir Chakra for his role in the battle of Tiger Hill in which he killed Pakistan Army’s Captain Karnal Sher Khan who was later awarded his country’s highest gallantry award, the Nishan-e-Haidar; and yet Satpal Singh continued to direct traffic in a small town in Sangur district of Punjab. It was only when this despairing news was published in a section of the press that the Chief Minister of Punjab decided to correct the wrong perpetuated on the brave soldier by promoting him to the rank of an Assistant Sub Inspector. In a country where even medal winners in sports are promoted to higher ranks for doing the nation proud; we here have an example of a solider laying his life on the line, and decorated for his valour, wasting away his life in near anonymity. If this is the great respect and appreciation we profess for our servicemen, it is time we got our priorities right. While quite a few veterans including some former service chiefs had expressed their displeasure at the ‘politicization’ of the military in the Lok Sabha elections, it becomes more than evident that when it comes to normal life, the defence personnel are merely props effectively used by the political leaders to further their agendas.  

PACHU MENON, MARGAO