The historic picture of General Niazi of the Pakistan Army signing the document of surrender of his army in East Pakistan has been removed from the Army Chief’s office and replaced by a painting depicting a charioteer, tank etc and portrait of Chanakya on the banks of Pang Gong Tso lake in Eastern Ladakh. What is this meant to convey!
India’s last great victory took place in 305 BC, when Chandragupta Maurya defeated Alexander’s general, Seleucus Nicator. Thereafter, India had an unbroken record of military defeats. This 1971 lightning campaign against East Pakistan ranks amongst the great campaigns in world history, where India also took 93000 prisoners. Therefore, India’s war of 1971 has a special place in India's military history. Replacing a picture related to this historic victory by another, which is of no consequence, in the Chief of Army Staff’s office has drawn a range of comments from veterans. Some even point to an effort to down the military's performance under a different political dispensation and great achievement in Eastern Ladakh, under the current political setup.
Earlier the flame under India Gate relating to the 1971 war was shifted to the National War Memorial. India Gate as a war memorial was built in the memory of 83000 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives during the First World War as also British officers and soldiers killed in the Northwest Frontier Province (in the Third Afghan War ) .
‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ was placed under India Gate in Jan 1972, by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to commemorate this great Victory against Pakistan. This eternal flame under India Gate is related to all those soldiers, (Army, Air Force and Navy) who laid down their lives during the 1971 war against Pakistan. When this flame was shifted to the National War Memorial, some justified this action by stating that India Gate is a memorial built to honour mercenaries ( Indian soldiers who died in the First World War) therefore it is not an appropriate place for the flame related to the 1971 war. Little do they realise that the Indian soldier has always lived and died by his commitment to Nam, Namak and Nishan. He has always remained committed to his oath. While no one needs be overly concerned about the shifting of the Amar Jawan Jyoti from under India Gate to the National War Memorial, it should have been avoided as the same is not in keeping with the military traditions.
Each great battle has its own place in the history of a nation and its military, and cannot be clubbed or merged with another. This is true for the world over. While the military of the United States of America fought many successful battles during the Second World War and there is a national war memorial, yet the site of the last great battle of the American Civil War at Gettysburg continues to have dozens of unit memorials and statues of commanders from where they conducted the battle, with guns still in battle location. Quarter of a million Americans assemble every year to celebrate this battle, where some of the actions of that battle at sub unit level, are staged by locals, wearing full military uniforms of that period.
War memorials and historic events related to wars as such have their own place in the history of each nation. Each battle has its own history and relevance. For constructing the Saraghari memorial at Ferozepur, stones were brought from the Saragarhi Post on the Samana Ridge in the Northwest Frontier of India. It was built at Ferozepur because most of those who fought at Saragarhi were from this district.
Equally a small gurdwara was built at Amritsar with the names of those who died at Saragarhi: engraved on stone. When the two guns from the memorial at Ferozepur were shifted to the Flagstaff House, I called up the General Officer Commanding and pointed to him the inappropriateness of this step. He pleaded ignorance and told me that these will be put back at the memorial. Sometimes we forget the sanctity of these memorials and events related to historic wars.
A unit’s and army’s past record plays on the psyche of soldiers and units. Thus when the 4 Sikh battalion advance party was told to occupy Ladders position at Walong, during the 1962 war against China, the second-in-command of the battalion sent a signal to the commanding officer to say that at Ladders, we will be able to replay Saragarhi. The battalion could not repeat Saraghari as it was ordered to withdraw after it had beaten back two enemy attacks. It may be recalled that Saraghari is a world famous last man last round action.
Equally the Indian army’s performance during the Kargil operations was a ‘follow on’ of the 1971 war against Pakistan. The removal of this historic picture of the signing of the surrender document by Pakistan and replacing it by a painting of our conflict with China in Eastern Ladakh aims to convey that we have gained more using Chanakya strategy than what was achieved in the 1971 war. In Eastern Ladakh China continues to occupy much of Indian territory and has merely permitted the Indian army to patrol its own territory.
What actually took place in Eastern Ladakh was that China occupied large tracts of Indian territory in this region. It denied Indian patrolling rights in certain areas which are otherwise part of Indian territory. Then when Chinese troops occupied Galwan ridge, which dominates the Indian road to Daulat Beg Ouldi (DBO ) Indian troops told the Chinese to vacate this area. On this there was a scuffle between Indian and Chinese troops where India lost 20 soldiers including a commanding officer. This was followed by a stalemate.
India’s deployment of the large body of troops and equipment in Eastern Ladakh has resulted in a substantial increase in the revenue component of the defence budget, leaving much less for modernizing the military.
China’s softening of attitude toward India in Eastern Ladakh must be seen in the light of the fact that America is all set to substantially increase the tariffs on Chinese goods being exported to that country. That leaves India as the next major market for Chinese goods. Further developments in the South Pacific have also drawn China’s focus away from Eastern Ladakh, at least for the time being, towards this region.
It is neither India military prowess nor the Chanakya diplomatic play that brought about this marginal softening of Chinese stance. Therefore, there is no rationale to replacing that historic picture by one of an imaginary achievement. Is it to relegate the Indian army’s performance in 1971 war and convey that military action and subsequent diplomacy worked better in Eastern Ladakh. All this somehow belittles the sacrifices of those who laid down their lives in the 1971 war in East Pakistan.
Lately Shivaji Maharaj’s statue has been installed on the banks of Pang Gong Tso lake. How does Shivaji get linked to this remote area! The Army's top brass need to avoid such meaningless activities and focus more on national security issues and modernization of the army.
Lt General Harwant Singh is an Army veteran who fought in the Second World War and has authored a book ‘Lest We Forget India’s War Memorials’. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.