Insulting our heroes – Congress way

शहीदों की चिताओ पर लगेंगे हर बरस मेले, वतन पर मिटनेवालों का यही बाकी निशान होगा.

These lines were penned by an Indian few decades ago to honour Indian martyrs and heroes. Ironically they no longer hold true in Indian context. We have made it a habit to relegate our true heroes to forgotten pages of history. This belief was confirmed – ONCE AGAIN – when recently I came to know that Kargil conflict has been given a really interesting name by Congress. Mr. Rashid Alvi from Congress chose to call it “BJP’s war”. It couldn’t get any more political or uglier than that. For the uninitiated, NDA led by BJP was in power during the Kargil conflict. Under the stewardship of A B Vajpayee – then the PM of India – talks were initiated with Pakistan to sort out the differences. To show our good intentions, A B Vajpayee and scores of other VIPs went to Lahore by bus. This became famous as “Lahore bus yatra / bus diplomacy” in political circles. Pakistan, true to its nature welcomed our leaders on one hand and on the other it was preparing for capturing our territory. All in all, it was a classic case of backstabbing.

Few months after Lahore trip, Pak. Army regulars sans uniform occupied key peaks in Indian Territory. Not only that, they built tracks and even helipads to ensure uninterrupted supply of men and materiel. They had enough time and resources to build fortified bunkers on peaks and enough supplies to allow them to fight and survive for months. Clearly they were confident that they would occupy those peaks for few months and their politicians would play their cards, hence altering the LOC (Line of Control). Permanently.

It was an IMPOSSIBLE task to attack and recapture those peaks given the terrain and enemy’s advantageous position. But the organization named Indian Army has been well-versed with doing the impossible and surprising the entire world. Their saying goes something like this. Hard jobs get done easily. It is only the impossible that takes time. Braving enemy fire, carrying a heavy load on his back and fighting the elements was the Indian soldier – respected for his bravery across the globe – charging ahead. He was the key to achieving the impossible and recapturing those towering peaks. On day of victory, he stood taller than the icy peak he had captured. Some of these bravehearts were not with their buddies to relish those proud moments. They had made the supreme sacrifice and were looking down from the heavens.

They sacrificed their lives and became immortal, their souls watching over us and guarding frontiers of our nation. And did we give them anything in return? Oh yes. We sure did give them a lot. We dishonored them by forgetting that Vijay Diwas is the day to commemorate our brave soldiers and not to gain political brownie points. Instead of coming together to celebrate this day, our politicians are busy blaming others for the conflict. Let us not forget that mistakes were made by incumbent politicians, but that does not mean that we don’t honour our soldiers. Another Congress MP went a step further by asking “what is Vijay Diwas all about?” hats off to you sir. You just reaffirmed my confidence on politicians.

These retards don’t attend cremation ceremony of our brave men for fear of incurring wrath of “certain communities”. Why can’t they spell out “Muslims”? If they think that Muslims would be angry at them for honouring our brave soldiers, aren’t they are branding all Muslims as traitors? A terrorist is a terrorist regardless of religion. A bomb or a bullet doesn’t stop to ask your religion. It just kills you. So please stop giving lame excuses for not honouring our boys and girls. Such traitors should be bundled off to Saltoro Ridge. To be pushed down. Or better still, put a Smerch rocket up their rear and fire them off towards Pakistan. May be that’s where they belong irrespective of their religion.

Before pointing fingers at BJP for Kargil conflict, Congress would do good to read up on history. As we all know, Kargil is situated in J&K and thanks to a PM from Congress, we lost and good portion of J&K because of his utopian beliefs. Once bitten twice shy. Nah, that doesn’t apply to our beloved Jawahar Lal Nehru. He was totally disconnected from reality and hence made the mistake of trusting China. Slogans of “hindi chini bhai bhai” ended up with India saying “bye-bye” to vast territory. Jawahar Lal Nehru and his crony Lt. Gen. B M Kaul ensured that we did everything to enrage China without being prepared for upcoming war. If we go by Congress’ logic, these debacles should be called “Congress ki ladai”. Mind you that our armed forces were never found lacking, but it was the incumbent political leadership that was confused and impractical. When we commemorate a war, we pay our tributes to the soldiers who fought against all odds. It is not to commemorate or glorify a political party that was in power at that time. In fact making such comments about a war – where our boys did the impossible – borders on the verge of treason. In Kargil conflict at least we could re-capture our occupied territory, while the areas captured in 48 and 62 are still occupied by our neighbours. Instead of allowing our boys to chase away invaders from occupied areas, lotus eater Jawahar Lal Nehru took the matter to UN and messed it up big time. We all know how effective UN resolutions have been.

It is the simple and hardy Jawan of our forces who fights a battle not of his choosing. He fights for you and me without expecting anything in return. It is him whom we remember and honour for the wars. It is his spirit that helped him fight battle against great odds and snatch victory from defeat’s jaws. These politicians should learn something from Col. Thapar. His son – Lt. Vijayant Thapar – was only 22 years old when he made the supreme sacrifice during battle for Tololing Top. To pay his tributes to his son and others like him who perished in those mountains, Col. Thapar climbs that peak every year.

I am venting out all this here because I believe that a country that forgets its heroes does not have any future. I don’t want future generations to study in history that “there was a country called India, split to pieces because she forgot her heroes”.