Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament &
Entrepreneur
From a security point of view, as a nation,
we are faced with unprecedented transformations and challenges around us – As
nations like Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka attempt to transform into stable
democratic nations, some others in our region pose challenges and represent
clear and present danger to our nation. Some of these neighbours
represent very different forms of challenges to us as a country and to our
Security – be it to shipping lanes or geopolitical influence or proxy terrorism
attacks. Countries that have engaged
in a proxy war with India will eventually fail – faced, as they have so far,
with the determination of all Indians, but more specifically with the
indomitable and undefeatable spirit of, patriotism and service of the many
generations of our servicemen and women and their families. These men and their
families form the basic backbone of this nation’s efforts at providing a stable
and secure country for all its people.
It is about these men and women and their
families that I wish to speak about today. Our Defence Minister is one of the most decent and
unassuming men that I have come across in our Politics. I am sure he realizes
that as Defence Minister and civilian custodian of the Defence Ministry – he
is, in effect, the trustee of the great institution that is the Indian Armed
forces and the millions of men and women and their families that have served
and are serving and will serve this nation in times of war and peace.
It is to this role as trustee of the Armed
Forces that I address him today. He is aware that our nation has had to fight and
defend itself against many aggressions and wars and is being challenged almost
every day on various fronts .He is aware that the country has asked thousands
of young men and women and their families to a call of duty – and to sacrifice
life and limb to protect our nation and all our people over the last several
decades. He is aware that almost every day since Independence till today, some
family somewhere is asked to go through the pain of knowing that they have lost
a family member in service of the nation. India is
the only country that does not have a Military Memorial to honour sacrifices of
brave men and womenHe is also aware that despite all this, we the people
of India and indeed, the Government of India, have failed in our duty and
continue to fail - to build a National Military Memorial in our nation’s
capital to honor these sacrifices and service to the nation. Every nation
honors its heroes who have perished on the battlefield with a memorial, except
us.
My state Government of Karnataka has
undertaken the project of a Memorial and it will be completed soon. It will be
inscribed with names of each and every son of Karnataka who died in the service
of our nation. But a National Memorial for all the sons and daughters of India,
who have perished, is missing in Delhi.This is a shame and embarrassment which should NOT
be allowed to continue. I urge him, as I have been urging the Government for
several years, to act on this. Do not leave this in the hands of a group of
insensitive bureaucrats to comprehend the deep emotional need for the country,
and indeed, the families of those who perished, to have this memorial.
One
Rank, One Pension is a deeply emotional issue.
This is a deeply emotional issue of honor for
many thousands of retired soldiers and their families. We must not forget that
our veterans have served this country under the most trying of economic and
security challenges. We must not forget that whilst all around us in our
region, militaries subverted democracies – the men of our Armed Forces protected
it and helped it grow into what we are today. Honor isn’t a concept that is
very well understood or respected in the corridors of Delhi, but sir, I urge
you to recognize honor and pride which is what makes a man put his life on the
line for his nation – placing his country ahead of himself and his family or
religion. The Standing Committee on Defence has recommended OROP. Recently, the
Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha - comprising of all Parties – has, after
detailed consultations and hearings on the matter, tabled its Report in the
Parliament on 19 December 2011, recommending the immediate implementation of
OROP and constitution of a separate commission to determine pay and other
service conditions and benefits of the Armed Forces. But even now, the Defence Ministry refuses to act
on this, and the old excuse trotted out by the bureaucracy that all other
central services will ask for it certainly holds no merit, because of the very
different nature of serving in the Armed Forces. The right thing for the Hon’ble
Minister to do is to respect the views of Parliament and MPs, as has been
communicated to him on more than one occasion. Ignoring the sense of Parliament
on this issue would be wrong and a big error on his part.
Both these issues are not about money. Given
the amount of money that is wasted or frittered away or even looted from the
Government – these amounts for the OROP and Military Memorial are nothing. In
an overall defence budget of Rs.1,94,000 crores, this will be insignificant in
terms of cost – but very, very powerful in terms of the message it communicates
to the men and women in uniform. This is about our determination or lack of
interest to do the right thing by our servicemen and doing the right thing by
the idea of service to the nation.
Nominate Armed Forces Veterans to Parliament:
Does Serving in Kargil and Siachen rank at least as high as cricket or movies ?
Lastly, before I end, let me touch on another issue – A few months ago,
I had written to the PM and the Defence Minister, and also raised a Special
Mention in Parliament about nominating an Armed Forces Veteran to the
Parliament who can be the voice of the over one crore ex-servicemen and their
families. I was given an answer saying the Constitution doesn’t permit it. Be
that as it may, if the Government can consider Cricket and Film stars as icons
of National service, I would urge the Defence Minister to consider nominating
Veterans to at least one of the nominated Seats in Parliament. I think he would
agree that battlefield service in Kargil, Siachen etc to the nation ranks at
least as high as cricket or movies. Sir, as we move forward as a nation, our Armed
Forces needs to continue to attract the best and most motivated of our young
generation in service of our country. Let us do these basic fundamental
duties by the generations that have served us and let them inspire the future
generations to serve. Let them be confident that the country and people haven’t
forgotten their service and value their service to our country.
And to our Defence Minister, I would like to
quote our own Kautilya, the great political strategist, who wrote to
Chandragupta Maurya centuries ago: “The day the soldier has to demand
his dues will be a sad day for Magadha. For then on that day, you will have
lost all moral sanction to be king”.
Jai Hind.
(Speech made by Rajeev Chandrasekhar
during the debate in Parliament on the working of Ministry of Defence. May 07,
2012)
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