Military service comes with 'unlimited liability,' a reality underscored by the valour and ultimate sacrifices of the young soldiers who gave their lives for the country
Recent martyrdom of four Indian Army personnel i.e., Capt. Brijesh Thapa, Naik Rajesh, Sepoy Brijendra and Sepoy Ajay of the 10th Rashtriya Rifles (Rajput Regiment) are a continuing reminder of the price that a few pay for the entire country. Seemingly service in the Army does not come with a ‘Limited Liability’ like in a civilian organisation, but with ‘Unlimited Liability’. Hardly had the news of Captain Abhimanyu’s daredevilry played out in public discourse, earning him the Kirti Chakra, and the news of this Doda operation broke.
Parallels in both cases are significant, even as one was a combat mission, and the other, a rescue mission.The real fire of the Indian Army is not necessarily in its weaponry, training, doctrines, senior leadership etc., but in the proverbial ‘junior leadership’ of its Young Officers and of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) who ensure that the institution’s youthful iron is tempered into steel. Both Capt. Thapa and Capt. Abhimanyu was from that ‘junior leadership’ fount, one a combatant and the other a doctor, but warriors in their ways. Both had heeded that unsaid call of military leadership to ‘lead from the front’. Officers of other militaries tend to lead relatively more entitled and safer lives, which manifests in the Indian Army having the highest ‘Officer-to-Soldier fatality ratio.
This young leadership does not take the backseat of ‘ordering’ but walks first in harm’s way, as this is what Capt. Thapa did, as did Capt. Abhimanyu, who answered his conscience to attempt to save his comrade-in-arms from a fire incident. Such stories are the norm in the Indian Army, but not so, in other militaries of the world. Interestingly, both belong to what is proudly called the ‘Military Families’, an age-old concept that has survived the vicissitudes and institutional diminishments of time, which would logically expect the end of this noble tradition.
In the USA, the concept of multi-generational soldiers, who fight its bloody wars is a revered concept. Folks within these ‘Military Families’ uphold the timeless promise of righteous defence that is passed down through generations. While this solemn tradition of sacrifice is recognised and valorised in the USA, sadly, not so in our Indian context. It is almost unknown and unrecognised. This is particularly surprising because India too has a culture of similar ‘Military Families’ that dot the mofussil hinterlands. Initially a legacy of the British ‘martial caste’ regimentation, it is no longer the reserve of any specific societal group, anymore.
The rarefied air within these ‘Military Families’ still resonates with much-forgotten values like honour, valour, sacrifice, tradition et al, despite many far more compelling reasons to walk a safer and more financially-materially gratifying path. Both Capt. Brijesh Thapa and Capt. Abhimanyu was professionally qualified (the former got through engineering, and the latter, both engineering and medicine) to venture into the lucrative civilian world – yet, both opted for the ‘Uniform’, knowing what it entailed. They followed the militaristic footsteps of their respective fathers. Gut-wrenching images of Capt Thapa’s parents, Col BK Thapa and his wife receiving their son’s coffin was a modicum of dignity, pride and unbearable pain all wrapped in controllable emotions. Col Thapa’s moving words about his gallant son, “He always wanted to join the Army and would sometimes wear my uniform, saying one day he would own one”, added incalculably to his family legacy, and on to the plans, and to the nation. Capt. Thapa stood tall till the very end as the third generation in service to India. Similarly, both Sepoy Ajay (third-generation soldier) and Sepoy Brijendra were from the traditional soldiering areas of Jhunjhunu District, again from ‘Military Families’.
The power of the Indian Army is a testament to these ‘Military Families’ who have defended the territorial integrity of the nation, for generations. One such typical family is of Mata Deen Singh who joined the Bengal Native Infantry in the early 1890’s.
He was later declared missing and believed killed in NWFP in 1901. Later four more generations of his served with much aplomb and distinction in the fiery Rajput Regiment. Befittingly, this family claims that there hasn’t been a war that India has fought, where a member of the family has not fought! For many in the country, wars and insurgencies are either far removed or distant abstractions but for these families, the price to keep it ‘distant’ is personal, real, and never cheap. Col Thapa led the stirring fist-pumped salutation of Bharat Mata Ki Jai with his son wrapped in a Tiranga.
People in such ‘Military Families’ are cut from a different cloth, and the nation can never repay its gratitude to them, ever. Sadly, those in power who are responsible for much of the prevailing mess have very little skin in the game and only play politics ad nauseum. For them, each tragedy is still tradeable to score a partisan point. Beyond condescending exhortations and appropriations, the politicians (since independence, without any exception) have prioritised financials – what with ‘austerity’ measures, OROP, Agniveer (with pension bill concerns) et all, but always without adequately thinking about how much it would actually ‘cost’ to send soldiers in harm’s way. The ‘Military Families’ have persisted, despite all this.
(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views expressed are personal)
