The Left-Liberal narrative on J&K revolves around denigrating the role of Armed Forces. This in turn emboldens the subversive separatists. Ultimate victims of this process are common citizens of the State. The real issues pertaining to the State are dismal governance by dominant parties from the Valley, the curbed voices of Jammu and Ladakh, denied basic rights of voting and gender justice, the protection of minority rights and culture and complete integration of the State with Bharat. Targetting Armed Forces is not going to solve these issues. In fact, we should put honour and dignity of soldiers above all political debates and observe a Remberance Day so that peace, security and human rights are ensured
Major (retd) Gaurav Arya
Gautam Gambhir’s Tweet about killing 100 jihadis for every Indian soldier killed set the cat among all the
self- appointed pigeons, guardians of India’s peaceful heritage, or whatever that may be. The media was quick to castigate him for his ill-thought comments. A senior TV journalist ended up asking Gambhir if he has ever been to Kashmir, and he should go to the home of a teenager blinded by a pellet gun and then talk.
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Kashmir is no North Pole, and going there is no achievement unless you are wearing auniform and hunting terrorists, or dealing with their younger cousins, the stone- pelters. You don’t need to go to Kashmir to express solidarity with your soldiers. The TV journalist’s outburst is typical of Left-liberal journalists who will decide what you should think. So, Arundhati Roy saying that India should get out of Kashmir is freedom of speech, because she belongs to that “Left-liberal-literary” stratum that we are not allowed to question, and Gambhir is a sportsperson. The thought process is “What does a cricketer know about these things anyway?” Gambhir was attacked because he encroached upon the Left liberal’s god-given right to have an opinion.
Hardly had this conundrum died down that an army major tied a stone- pelter to his vehicle, not in the Israeli tradition of vengeance, but in pure self-preservation.
Howls of protests erupted. The Geneva Conventions were flaunted and human rights quoted. The same self-serving liberal-Left went into an assault overdrive.
All these reactions are little more than synthetically manufactured fraud. So are the concerns about violation of the Geneva Conventions. Major Gogoi did not, one fine day, get up and say, “Hey, today is April 9, and there is no better day to tie up a stone -pelter to my vehicle”.
Let us review what happened. The polling officials, ITBP jawans and a small team of J&K Police were surrounded by an estimated mob of 900-odd stone-pelters, some of them with Molotov cocktails. They had taken up positions on the streets and rooftops. Hopelessly outnumbered, the ITBP jawans sent out an SOS to the local senior army official, who without delay dispatched a Quick Reaction Team (QRT), led by Major Gogoi. Since “quick” is the operative word, QRTs are small in size. The officer reached the site and did an on-ground assessment. Heavily outnumbered and with no back-up, he had two choices—shoot his way out, which would have resulted in a large number of deaths or try something so surprising and unique that a window of opportunity would present itself, so that those surrounded could be safely extricated. He chose the latter, simply because he wanted to avoid killing people.
The young major saved lives of those he was sent to protect, no civilians were harmed and the mission was successful. I fail to understand what the fuss is about! Optics? Is that what is troubling people? Would they rather have had dead bodies? Those who have criticized this action have not said what the Major Gogoi could have done, or should have done, given the circumstances. I have served in J&K. Charm does not work.
It’s easy to find fault with others when you are sitting in Delhi Gymkhana, sipping malt or in a newsroom, lord of all your survey. It’s quite another matter when you are the mission leader of a QRT, who has been sent to save soldiers and civilians, who are minutes away from being lynched by a “peaceful” mob of 900. The Indian Army is full of hard choices. That’s just the way it is.
For all the Left-leaning liberals and Lutyen’s Delhi journalists lamenting the demise of democracy with respect to the army’s action, I say, “ the Indian Army is the last argument of the state. When you deploy the army, know this…nothing follows after it. You would do well not to second-guess the army.”
Left-liberal journalism has caused more harm to India’s interests in Kashmir than the entire might of the Hurriyat. They question the motives of a young officer surrounded by certain death, who did his best to save the people he was sent to protect, and did so without inflicting collateral damage. These same journalists have nothing to say for the CRPF jawan who was slapped, kicked and punched, except that the soldier displayed “tremendous patience and professionalism”. Patience and professionalism? Is that what you thought the soldier was displaying? What I saw was humiliation of the uniform, and a soldier unable to respond because he was alone with his buddy and the stone- pelters were many; a response would have lead to a bloodbath. What I saw was the state
failing the soldier.
Those Kashmiri separatist youth did not just insult the soldier and his uniform. They insulted India.
The Geneva Conventions were violated when Pakistanis cut off the head of Lance Nk Hemraj and Sepoy Mandeep Singh. The Geneva Conventions were violated when Pakistan invaded Kargil and 527 Indian brave-hearts were martyred.
The J&K Police’s Director General’s office recently initiated a circular asking policemen belonging to South Kashmir not to go home because it was not safe. The Pakistan Army denies consular access to Kulbhushan Jhadav for at least 15 times. On April 16, Imtiaz Ahmed Khan was shot dead by unidentified persons in Pinjora Shopian, J&K. He was a lawyer and a social activist, and the cousin of a close friend.
This happens all the time and its news as usual; nothing personal about it. Viewers, we will now take a 2-minute commercial break. Don’t go away. Stay with us. That’s it?
It is because of Left-liberal intelligentsia and journalists that we have come to such a passé; their writings,
opinions and thoughts give impetus to those who would destroy India. What the enemy is not able to do from outside, they are doing from inside. They are opening the gates of the citadel from within.
There is a strange sense of entitlement, of knowing with absolute certainty that what they write and speak is the only truth that needs to be put on a pedestal. Like the gods of the Roman pantheon, they look down upon the hoi polloi, dripping hubris.
And then there is the soldier. Any patch of even ground is a bed and even cold food is eaten gratefully. He doesn’t ask for much. And we expect him to die for us. Other countries’ armies and forces have just the enemy to contend with. They are supported and feted. They are applauded. It is only in India where the soldier not only fights the enemy, but also the
politicians, the separatists, the journalists, the Leftist and an assortment of opinions. He has no support, no back up. TV anchors will mouth platitudes about “human rights violations” and show the clip of the Kashmiri
stone-pelter tied to Major Gogoi’s vehicle. Relevant copies of the Geneva Conventions will be flashed on your screens. But no one will offer a solution. Surrounded by a murderous mob of 900, what options did the officer have? No one will address this question satisfactorily, because no one can. To answer this question, you should have gone through similar experiences.
But the wheel is turning a full circle. Social media has a mind of its own, and people have opinions. No longer can a media house dictate what you should think. That monopoly has been broken. It takes less than three minutes to record a video and tweet it. If the content is right, it will go viral. Like the very recent video of Indian Army troops being applauded and feted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. It was not news for the mainstream media. It became news because it suddenly snowballed into something humongous.
Indians always respected the soldier. But now we see aggressive manifestations of it. When the CRPF jawan was humiliated, a young man sent a message to me, a message of rage and helplessness. He said, “When I saw those thugs slapping the soldier, I felt as if someone was slapping my father. I felt so helpless and angry”.
The pillars of the Left-liberal narrative are crashing down, and in their place we see an assertive India. We see an India that has for too long been kept in intellectual and cultural subjugation, shaking off the dust from its back. A new narrative is taking shape, with India as its core.
And this is what Indians are telling the soldier…
We are not ungrateful. We respect and acknowledge your sacrifices. You are our brother and your blood is our blood. We may not wear the uniform, but our love for the motherland is no less. We will stand together, fight together and when the time comes, die together.
(The writer is a Public Speaker and Columnist)
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