By Hugh & Colleen Gantzer
We are dismayed. We have just read the Saturday 27 July 2024 Garhwal Post. On the front page and continued on page 4, is the speech attributed to the Prime Minister and delivered on 26th July in Drass. This place is at an elevation of 3,300M and the shortage of oxygen at that level could affect a person’s thinking. That is our first waiver. Our second is that we do not know which of the words in the reportage belong to the Prime Minister and which were those of a speech writer, if any. Taken as a whole, however, we have no hesitation in saying that it was ill-informed, inappropriate and harmful tirade delivered by any political leader anywhere.
Tradition and particularly those connected with uniformed colleagues who have died in the line of duty are as close to a religion as the armed forces can get. It dismays Defence Servicemen and Women when Netas use this occasion to disparage their political rivals. It is even more off-putting to discover that the politician has distorted facts to achieve his or her ends. Once again, just to get the facts right, we repeat that we are not sure if the objectionable words were written by a speech writer, misquoted by an agency or was chosen by the speaker.
He criticised the previous governments of the country for even avoiding erecting war memorials to honour the bravehearts. Wrong. The Amar Jawan Jyoti was installed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on January 26, 1972. It is guarded 24/7 by the armed forces.
Once again, the PM was quoted as saying that, for the previous governments, the defence forces were meant for parades and salutes. False. On December 16, 1971, 93,000 Pakastani soldiers surrendered to the Indian Army and Bangladeshi’s Mukti Bahini. The surrender was signed in Dhaka, marking the birth of the new nation of Bangladesh. No other Indian Government has achieved even half as much. The last war with Pakistan ended after Indian Navy Missile Boats attacked Karachi Harbour on 4 – 5 December 1971. This daring action is celebrated by military experts worldwide. It can hardly be classified “as Parades and Salutes.”
Previous governments according to the news item did not even provide bullet proof jackets to our defence forces. Possibly.
But they did go much further than that: they built warships. The Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers now known as Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers built the first warships in Independent India. INS Ajay was delivered to the Indian Navy on September 21, 1960. It served the Indian Navy from 1960 to 1974 and was then given to Bangladesh where it served as BNS Surma. That was the start of our influential arms industry?
The quotation ‘they are opposing the agnipath scheme which is aimed at making our soldiers young and fighting fit for war. Really?
Did our Armed Forces consist of decrepit and doddering personnel before some brilliant neta or babu conceived the Agnipath? Was the Kargil War won by Service Personnel who were not fighting fit? The Defence Services have frequent Meetings and Conferences to make sure that they remain fighting fit. Who were the experts who conceived the Agnipath Scheme? If the scheme was subject to ‘due application of mind’, then why were the BJP ruled states told to press the panic button and throw open recruitment to those Agniveers who have not been selected for regular service in the Armed Forces? Why are the people who conceived the scheme not taking credit for it?
If the Prime Minister seems to be so proud of the scheme, why is he not acclaiming those who conceived it?
Finally, the Hydrographers of the Indian Navy played a critical role in the Kargil War. These specialists, who have their Headquarters in Dehradun, helped their colleagues in the other Defence Services to use satellites to locate positions as Naval Hydrographers do at sea. The Hydrographers’ unique contribution to the success of the Kargil Operation was acknowledged by the Government of India.
But since it was a Congress Government when this unique operation was achieved, we did not expect any mention of it to be made by any official spokesperson of the present dispensation.
(Hugh & Colleen Gantzer hold the National Lifetime Achievement Award for Tourism among other National and International awards. Their credits include over 52 halfhour documentaries on national TV under their joint names, 26 published books in 6 genres, and over 1,500 first-person articles, about every Indian state, UT and 34 other countries. Hugh was a Commander in the Indian Navy and the Judge Advocate, Southern Naval Command. Colleen is the only travel writer who was a member of the Travel Agents Association of India.) (The opinions and thoughts expressed here reflect only the authors’ views!).
