Mera Bharat Mahaan!
Proud to be an Indian?
Read this.....and you will
know what people of this great country are
Kumar, you ask
me to write a poem on Albert Ekka.......and, I want to tell you this :
37 years after Albert Ekka was awarded the Param
Vir Chakra (the Highest
Gallantry Award in India) his widow Balamdina Xess Ekka, got the five acres of land promised by the
government.......... oh! I forgot, she was also given Rs 3.79 lakh only by the authorities
out of sanctioned Rs 9.5 lakh to level the rocky - worthless - piece of land allotted to her at Jari
village in the district where Ekka was born.
.........this five acres of barren rocky land could not be handed over
to Ekka’s family earlier as it was a piece of disputed land that the Govt had so
magnanimously allotted to Ekka for sacrificing his life for the country!
.......a Lance Naik and recipient of
the highest military award the Param Vir Chakra, Ekka died in
service in Battle of Hilli, defending the front line of the 14th battalion
of the Brigade of Guards during the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971....... and oh! Kumar,
I must also tell you that his son
Vincent was nine-months-old when his father died while fighting the Pakistani
troops at Ganga Sagar in 1971
........ and, on 02 Sep 2013, the Jharkhand Government decided to give a job to Param Vir Chakra recipient Albert Ekka's 42-year-old son Vincent, a grade-III government job!
........and, as for the Army..... Ekka's widow Balamdina Xess Ekka was felicitated by the Eastern Command in Kolkata on the Vijay Diwas
celebrations a full 41 years
after he gave his life for the country!
And, for those that don't know Ekka is the only Param Vir Chakra (Posthumous) recipient from the Eastern theatre for 'displaying conspicuous bravery and determination' during the 1971 Indo-Pak War that led to the liberation of Bangladesh!
......37 years to give a piece of useless land...... 42 years to offer his son a grade 3 job...41 years to felicitate Balamdina Xess Ekka at Fort Williams.....but just 2 years to reduce his widow Balamdina Xess Ekka's pension in 1973! (Yes, pensions of Servicemen were REDUCED, in 1973, after 1971 War victory! How's that for a grateful Nation?)
oh! lest I forget.....when an envoy from Bangladesh did visit Gumla, near Ranchi in Jharkhand to meet his widow and son......Balamdina Xess Ekka had desired that at least the urn of her late husband be brought back to the state, (his body had been laid to rest at Dhulki, 15 km from Agartala in Tripura),.........they did.....the Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das handed over the urn of Lance Naik Albert Ekka to his family in Jharkhand’s Gumla district 44 years after his death.......
..........and Kumar you want me to write a poem on Albert Ekka?.......... and, I really
don't know what to write as my heart is so heavy and my eyes are so clouded and
my hands shake ...... ......
This is how our great Country, functions! And is continuing to live up to this tardy tradition especially for the Defence forces. The OROP muddle is a latest example of this.
Are we all really not Proud to be an Indian?
Jai-Ho, my great Indi-yaaaah! Jai Ho!
Published as received with very little editing
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