By Gurmeet Kanwal
The Idea of India
The Indian soldier is a role model for the
people of India. Scrupulously honest, positively secular, completely
apolitical, with an ethos of working hard, simple needs and frugal habits, he
is the epitome of courage and unflinching devotion to duty. More than any other
group or community in the country, the Indian soldier embodies and represents
the idea of India.
In hail, sleet and snow, in icy blizzards and
pouring rain, he stands sentinel over the nation’s borders in the high
Himalayas. He maintains a silent and lonely vigil along the Line of Control
(LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). He has held the Saltoro Ridgeline west of
the Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world, for almost 30 years
and denied the adversary the opportunity to alter the Actual Ground Position
Line (AGPL). He has repeatedly shown his mettle while meeting the Chinese
challenge along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with Tibet.
From the snow-clad and wind-swept mountains
of the Himalayas in the north, to the steaming hot and humid jungles of the
seven sisters in the north-east and the shimmering sands of the burning Thar
Desert in the west, he never lowers his guard. Along the LoC, he braves daily
spells of intermittent small arms and mortar fire from a wily enemy. Sometimes
he lives through many days of heavy artillery shelling when the very earth
around him shakes ominously. Despite the omnipresent danger, hardships and
privations of life on the nation’s troubled frontiers, he stands tall and firm.
Stoic and resolute, his courage never wavers, his spirit never flags.
Guardian of the Frontiers
He stopped the rape of Baramulla by Pakistani
Razakars in 1947 and saved Srinagar from a similar fate. He took tanks to the
12,000 feet high Zoji La pass in 1948 to push back Pakistani invaders. In a
battle that has gone down in military history as the ultimate example of
courage under fire, he fought to the last man and last round at Rezang La, near
Chushul in Ladakh, in 1962. He stood fast against the Chinese at Walong. He fought
off the Chinese despite being ill-clad for a winter in the high Himalayas and
being armed with World War II vintage .303 rifles.
He smashed Pakistan’s Patton tanks at Asal
Uttar in 1965. He stormed the invincible Haji Pir citadel. At Nathu La in 1967 and
at Wangdung in 1986, the glint of his bayonet made the Chinese blink. In 1971,
he raced across the Sunderbans to liberate Bangladesh and gave back to the
oppressed Bengali people their freedom and their dreams. His naval counterparts
sank the Gazi and left Karachi burning. The tiny Gnats of his air force
colleagues flew rings around Pakistan’s Sabres and Starfighters that had been
gifted by America.
In 1999, his indomitable courage in the face
of daunting odds and steadfast devotion to duty triumphed over Pakistan’s
regular soldiers entrenched on the mountain tops on the Indian side of the LoC
in Kargil district of J&K. As the world watched in awe, he manned his guns
unflinchingly under the very nose of the enemy and, firing in the pistol-gun
‘direct fire’ role, he blew every bunker on Tiger Hill and half a dozen other
mountain tops to smithereens. He took back every mountain inch-by-bloody-inch.
His unparalleled valour inflicted another crushing defeat on the perfidious
enemy.
Role in Nation Building
His role in nation building has been
outstanding. He spearheaded the effort to integrate Junagadh (1947),
Hyderabad (Operation Polo, 1948), Goa (Operation Vijay, 1961) and Sikkim (1975)
with the Indian Union. He participated in the interventions in the Maldives and
Sri Lanka at the behest of the governments of these countries and was ready to
do so in Mauritius. He evacuated beleaguered Indian citizens from some of the
world’s most dangerous war zones: Iraq (2003), Lebanon (2006), Egypt, Libya and Yemen (2011), Ukraine and
Syria-Iraq (2014) and Yemen (2015).
For many decades in the northeast and since
1989-90 in J&K, he has fought insurgents and mercenary terrorists unleashed
by the country’s enemies to de-stabilise India. He has been ambushed, fired upon
with machine guns, made the target of land-mines and has been tortured and
killed in cold blood by ruthless Islamist fundamentalists sent to wage a war
through terror on India, but has never wilted. He has quelled communal and
political riots and police revolts. In all the internal security challenges
confronting India, he has never struck back in anger even in the face of the
gravest provocations. In fact, while fighting with one hand tied behind his
back, he has given a new meaning to the term ‘use of minimum force’.
He is called out regularly for flood relief
all over the country. He has removed bodies buried under the rubble of
earthquakes at Latur and Dharchula and landslides at Kedar Nath and other
places in the Kumaon Hills. He coped with determination in the aftermath of the
South East Asian Tsunami in December 2004. He has risked his life in cyclonic
storms in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to bring succour to his suffering
countrymen. He has often provided essential services during strikes. He has
taken medical aid to remote corners of the country. He has braved epidemics and
plagues. He has quelled communal disturbances and riots. He has participated in
peace-keeping operations and earned the gratitude of beleaguered people from
Korea to the Congo, from Kampuchea to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Flag Bearer
Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian and belonging
to many other faiths, he prays, eats, lives, plays and fights for India
together with his brothers in uniform. He is positively secular in that he not
only tolerates other religions, but also participates in their rituals and
observes their customs and gets immense joy from celebrating their festivals.
He has evolved the concept of adharmasthal where the idols of Hindu
Gods and Goddesses are installed side by side with the Guru Granth Sahib and
soldiers of all religions pray together. On Dussehra all soldiers participate
with folded hands and bowed heads in Shastra Poojaregardless of
their religion.
In many remote corners of the country, he is
the flag bearer. He represents the government of India. Whenever he goes on
leave to his village and when he finally retires, he spreads the message of
nationhood and a disciplined way of life in all corners of the country. He has
done more to knit India together than all the pompous politicians with their
pseudo national integration programmes and high-sounding slogans.
Often reviled, mostly ignored, sometimes
venerated, he has taken it all in his stride. He has never complained. He has
stood by the nation through thick and thin. He has held the nation together for
68 turbulent years. In the cesspool of filth, squalor and corruption in public
life, he alone stands apart like is a shining lotus. His life is one of honour,
glory and sacrifice – of life and limb. His blood has hallowed the nation’s
battlefields.
For our tomorrow, he willingly, selflessly,
unpretentiously, gives his today, but asks for nothing in return. Apolitical by
nature, he knows he will get nothing from uncaring politicians and scheming
civil servants. If he frets about anything at all, it is about the national
leadership’s callousness in failing to erect a befitting war memorial to
commemorate the supreme sacrifice made by his fallen comrades. He is troubled
that his brothers-in-arms who laid down their lives have remained “unwept,
unhonoured and unsung”. But, even here he draws comfort from the famous poem
‘The Bivouac of the Dead’: “On fame’s eternal camping ground, their silent
tents are spread; and, glory guards with solemn round, the bivouac of the
dead.”
He has truly lived up to Lord Krishna’s
exhortation: “Reward is not thy concern.” For him, duty is the most supreme
religion – the only one he professes (Seva Parmo Dharma).
He gives so much, gets so little in return,
and yet serves with a smile. He is the quintessential Indian who has knit India
together. If there is some truth in the phrase “kuchh baat hai jo hasti mit-ti
nahin hamari” (there is something about us that we cannot be destroyed), it is
because of his indomitable courage and his immeasurable sacrifices.
(The writer is former Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS),
New Delhi.)
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