Sacrifices That Make The ‘Indian Soldier’

Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria district is a typically rural and agrarian region on the border with Bihar. It has simple but hardy folks, who make the soul of India. Stretched on the banks of Saryu River the sleepy district looms in the shadows of the more well-known district of Gorakhpur that it was carved out from. However, it has had its own share of vivid and civilisational history.

The word ‘Deoria’ literally translates into the area of temples. therefore an overarching sense of piety, god-fearing innocence, and also ironically, fearlessness, is bestowed onto its natives.

This region was also the historical catchment area for the Militaries of the British Raj. The Purabias were historically known for their understated valour that saw them defeat many mightier forces of the Avadh, Mughals, Jats, Marathas, Sikhs, Rohillas and Gorkhas.

As part of the British Indian Army they took on Pathans and Sikhs, with much aplomb and success. But given their natural affinity to religiosity and devotion, they were also the first and the foremost to challenge the British empire in the 1857 Mutiny.

Their inviolable sense of honour, reverence and pride had been affronted and along with the feudal ‘Talukdars’ of the region, the Purbabia soldiers were instrumental in shaking the British Raj. Many rebels from Deoria itself were jailed and punished for upholding their values and devotion.

This indomitable spirit of immutable honour and sacrifice for the land was to birth the idea of ‘Baaghi Ballia’ (Rebel Ballia) in the neighbouring Ballia district to symbolise such defiance to enemies.

Unbeknownst to many, these sacred but often unseen and underappreciated lands continued to populate the Indian Armed Forces post-independence, with the same sense of dare, dignity and valour that benefit their gallant ancestors with fine soldiering traditions.

Deoria’s sleepy village of Kanhauli saw its decorated and heroic son, Group Captain Varun Singh (Shaurya Chakra), lose his precious life in a chopper crash. But much before this tragedy, Varun had put his own life at risk to save others as his citation read, “the pilot was at liberty to abandon aircraft.

Faced with a potential hazard to his own life, he displayed extraordinary courage and skill to safely land the fighter aircraft. The pilot went beyond the call of duty and landed the aircraft taking calculated risks.

This allowed an accurate analysis of the fault on the indigenously designed fighter and further institution of preventive measures against recurrence. Due to his high order of professionalism, composure and quick decision making, even at the peril to his life, he not only averted the loss of an LCA, but also safeguarded civilian property and population on ground”.

Thinking beyond oneself and selflessly putting one’s own life at risk for others can never be taught or even be expected from the ordinary – this calls for a unique bloodline of warriors, patriots, and professionals, and it is only because of them that the Tiranga (Tricolour) flies high, whatever be the odds. Such is the soil, ethos and culture of folks from the hinterland that gives the best of the very best.

Recently, yet another precocious young Army Officer from Deoria district, Captain Anshuman Singh (Kirti Chakra), walked the same path of daredevilry for the nation, and sadly, shared the same fate.

A brilliant boy who had earlier got through engineering and medical colleges simultaneously, presumably heeded to the subconscious call of serving the profession-of-arms i.e., Armed Forces Medical Corps. He went down paying the ‘ultimate price’ in the finest traditions of his forebears, land, and the nation at large.

The nation missed many heartbeats and erupted in raw and unfiltered emotions with much to thank the braveheart as the Rashtrapati handed over the Kirti Chakra to his bereaved young wife, and mother. Both were a modicum of supreme dignity, pride but obvious sense of irreparable loss.

Like Varun earlier, Anshuman too had a choice to save his own life when a major fire broke out in the highest battlefield in the world i.e., Siachen – but as is the ways of the truest sons-of-the-soil, he chose to save those trapped inside rescuing four-five individuals, answering the final call yet again by re-stepping into the inferno, only to lose his own life.

As the legendary General, George Patton famously said, “The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country”, Captain Anshuman Singh exemplified the same, with his actions.

He could have been an Engineer, but decided to pursue Medicine, he could have been a civilian doctor, but chose to wear the ‘Uniform’, he could have decided to just treat the combatants, but the natural soldier to the nation, became one himself.

Many in Captain Anshuman Singh’s attached Infantry battalion, 26th Punjab Regiment, are here today, because he was there, then.

The institution of the Armed Forces has an institutionalised memory that never forgets, ever. The RMO (Regiment Medical Officer) of 26th Punjab Regiment will always be valourised and celebrated as a valiant and fearless ‘Punjabi’ officer, who laid down his life for his brothers-in-arm of the Paltan.

In Captain Anshuman Singh, not only did Smriti Singh (wife), Manju Singh and Ravi Pratap Singh (parents), Satya Narayan Singh (grandfather), lose a dearly loved one – India lost its beloved son, and stands united in a rare moment of collective grief.

The nation and its citizenry must remember the unpayable debt it will always owe to the likes of Group Captain Varun Singh earlier, or Captain Anshuman Singh, recently. It is invariably the mofussil India that resides in Deoria, Jaisalmer, Gurdaspur, Jind, Kangra etc., that is always the first in the line of fire for the nation.

The brave story of Captain Anshuman Singh would be similar to that of a Major Digvijay Singh Rawat, Major Deepender Basnet, Havildar Pawan Kumar Yadav, Havildar Abdul Majid and Sepoy Pawan Kumar who too earned the Kirti Chakra, this year – each reflecting the societal diversity that is compositely and proudly, India.

A nation that despite the political polarisation, hateful narratives, and manufactured-divides, still joins hand to both, mourn a loss, and yet celebrate a life well lived. Fallen heroes like Captain Anshuman Singh, Havildar Abdul Majid and Sepoy Pawan Kumar will not return to their families as they have paid the ‘ultimate price’ to immortalise the ‘Idea of India’, virtues of the Indian Army, and for unflinchingly upholding the familial values that still burn bright in the deep recesses of unseen India.

Lt. Gen. Bhopinder Singh is the former Lieutenant Governor of The Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Pondicherry and an Indian Army officer who was awarded the PVSM. Views are the writer’s own.