VICISSITUDES OF INDEPENDENCE DAY AT RED FORT DELHI

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 AUGUST 15 FROM FORT RAMPARTS            

  By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM

Zee News guest coordinator Editor called me to invite for doing the running commentary in Hindi on the Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort Delhi on 15^th August 2013 on their international network. I gladly gave my consent to be a part of the 67^th Independence Day of our Bharat as I had been doing for over four decades heretofore. Indeed sometimes I did the commentary on the Akashvani, sometimes on the Doordarshan, perhaps once for the Sahara channel and for the last many years I have been doing it for the Zee News. On the Zee News network I am the monarch of all I survey and the camera focuses on me for a fairly long time and carries my voice to all corners of the globe for the entire ceremony except when the Pradhan Mantri is addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

DOWN THE MEMORY LANE

Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Pradhan Mantri, had unfurled the national flag, our beloved Tricolour, on 15  August 1947 at the dawn of the Independence after 190 years of the British rule in New Delhi. A special session of the Constituent Assembly was held in the Council House, now Sansad Bhawan, on 14 th August 1947 from 11 PM onwards. Dr Rajendra Prasad, the President of the Constituent Assembly had presided. Right at the beginning Dr Rajendra Prasad called upon Sucheta Kripalani to sing the National Song, VANDE MATARM, WHICH WAS HEARD WITH RAPT ATTENTION BY ALL MEMBERS INCLUDING THOSE OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE. Jawaharlal Nehru had made his famous speech there” Tryst with Destiny” after all members had taken oath of allegiance to the new nation, to Bharat, our motherland.

The next day, on 15 August 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the first Governor General of independent India had administered the oath of office and secrecy to Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister of India in the Durbar Hall of the Viceroy’s House, now the Rashtrapati Bhawan. In the afternoon Lord Mountbatten, his lady wife, Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru the Prime Minister drove from the Raisina Hill down the King’s Way, now Raj Path, towards India Gate as the national flag hoisting was to take place in the Hexagon near the Princess Park ( now called the August Kranti Maidan) for the benefit of and participation by the citizenry. The all important people could not reach the venue of flag hoisting as the milling crowd all over left no space on the road for the State Coach driven by six horses to drive on. The Governor General, his consort, the Prime Minister and senior Defence officers stood to attention wherever they were at the appointed hour and Lord Mountbatten signaled to his ADC, standing near the flagpole, to hoist the National Flag of India and he did it dutifully.

There was no mention of a ceremony at the Red Fort on 15 August 1947. Many a commentator, including yours truly had been committing that mistake year after year glorifying the Red Fort flag hoisting by Pandit Nehru on 15 August 1947. Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. Fortunately a research paper published by the Lok Sabha secretariat crossed my eyes and I was made wise. So were our colleagues. The record was set straight and it was announced by us thereafter that the first flag hoisting at the Red Fort of the national flag by Pandit Nehru was done on 16 August 1947. The first Prime Minister had the privilege of hoisting the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort 17 times and he addressed the nation on the national day as many times. The time allotted for the speech of the Pradhan Mantri is just 20 minutes but I have yet to see a Pradan Mantri adhering to it.

 SHASTRI  ERA

Lal Bahadur Shastri unfurled the national flag at the ramparts of the Red Fort just twice. The diminutive man had risen tall in national stature after he ordered the Indian Army to cross the international border and attack both Lahore and Sialkot simultaneously. His decision worked like magic and the flamboyant Pakistan President, General Ayub Khan was forced to loosen his stranglehold on Jammu and Kashmir in the Chamb-Jaurian sector. Lal Bahadur Shastri had become the darling of the Indian nation. Alas! Untimely death of that great man in mysterious circumstances in Tashkent after he had signed an agreement with General Ayub Khan under the Soviet pressure to withdraw to pre-war location in all sectors.

We recall the great Shastri Ji for raising the morale of the Indian nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort and elsewhere when clouds of misfortune had gathered. Shastri Ji always saw a silver lining around dark clouds and gave us the slogan “JAI JAWAN  JAI KISSAN”. To get over the food shortage and stranglehold of PL 480 of the US government he exhorted the Nation to miss a meal once a week and more, if feasible. He practiced what he preached and, therefore, his words carried weight and all Indians followed his advice both in letter and spirit.

HERE COMES INDIRA GANDHI

Indira Gandhi came on the scene after Shastri Ji’s sad and premature demise as a compromise candidate of the warring factions of the Congress Party. The regional satraps had chosen her because she had been known as the “ Goongi Gudiya” and lacked self confidence to answer queries and supplementary questions on the floor of the Lok Sabha. She always heaved a sigh of relief when the question hour was over without the Speaker calling upon her to face the opposition volleys.

Indira Gandhi had resilience and the more she was suppressed by satraps the more she came on her own and developed self confidence to take on the mighty men who had ridiculed her in the initial stages. As Prime Minister, she commanded the power of the State and learnt her ropes to success gradually. Whenever she was unduly hurt or harassed, be it Opposition parties in Parliament or the wily neighbor, Pakistan in the international diplomatic arena, she counter-attacked like a wounded tigress and carried the day. If one goes through the recording of her addresses to the Nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the Independence Day year after year, one will find that she grew tall as a Statesperson bit by bit and grew taller inch by inch. The friend and foe both held her in awe after she dismembered the arch-enemy of India, Pakistan in the 1971 war.

15 August 1972 – she ascended the stairs as her father used to do, like a victorious Roman General fresh from a campaign where the enemy was dissipated. By the way, the lift or elevator was built in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s time to take him on the ramparts since he had a heart condition. Now there are two elevators. The speech that she delivered after her victory over Pakistan was superb. Atal Behari Vajpayee, a Jan Sangh leader sitting on the opposition benches had likened Indira Gandhi to goddess Durga and lionized her in her hours of glory. It was well reflected in her voice, tenor, mannerism and the totality of impression of listeners was that Indira Ji has now come of age.

Indira Gandhi addressed the Nation after unfurling the National Tricolour at the ramparts of the Red Fort SIXTEEN times. Of course, it was in two instalments – eleven in her first tenure and then she lost power. Gut within two years she staged a triumphant return to power. She performed very well as the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort FIVE times, taking the tally to sixteen, a close second to her father, Pt Nehru.

Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 snatched her from the Nation rather prematurely. The ramparts of the Red Fort missed Indira Ji on 15 August year after year. Her gait as a lioness, her elegant sari with a broad border and the way she wrapped her sari made Indira Ji a class apart. As a radio commentator I made a word picture of Indira Ji’s personality, including her sari, not forgetting the border and it made a lively word picture pleasing to listeners’ ears. I loved the whole exercise immensely. I missed her every year when I climbed up the stairs to the ramparts of the Red Fort year after year as a commentator of the Akashvani. After her sad demise, things were never the same. When I changed over to the Doordarshan at my own request, I missed making the word picture. The cameras of the TV did that job that was so dear to me.

SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

In 1985 the Lahori Gate, the Ghoonghat and the moat looked so different. The security considerations were primary concern of the State and everything else played the second fiddle. The Guard of Honour was also vivisected into two. The Inter-Services and Police National Guard was positioned in front of the ramparts for the National  Salute and the band struck the National Anthem. A small Inter-Services and Delhi Police Guard of Honour was positioned near the small Lahori Gate well ensconced and hidden from public view by raising Kanats. Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded his mother, Indira Gandhi, took the salute and reviewed this mini guard. The glamour was gone, that is what I felt.

Everything looked and sounded so different – a kind of hush-hush atmosphere. It was the requirement of the security people. Rajiv Gandhi was not an orator and the resonance of his voice on the ramparts was missing. Of course, we accorded him due respect that ought to be given to a Prime Minister. Perhaps his staff that wrote his speech or rehearsed him lacked the verve of a trainer. No wonder one Independence Day was referred to by him as the Republic Day throughout his speech. Swatantrata Divas was replaced by the Gantantra Divas and I wonder why no one had courage to quietly show him the correction slip.

May I be permitted to skip some of the Prime Ministers who just made a debut and disappeared forever. In the Army we have a saying,” Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” But for Morarji Desai who appeared on the ramparts twice the one-timers were many like Chaudhary Charan Singh, DeveGowda, Indra Kumar Gujral and so on. Chaudhary Ji kicked up a row by saying from the ramparts that Israeli cows give good milk and the volume is satisfying. The Arab envoys protested but to no avail. Chaudhary Saheb was dead right factually.

ORATORY WAS REVIVED

Atal Behari Vajpaye of the Bhartiya Janata Party, is a born orator. The gift of the gab holds him in good stead. He revived the tradition of oratory and making important policy announcements from the ramparts of the Red Fort as the Prime Minister of India. Indeed his Hindi is worth emulating and many men and women joined his Fan Club hearing him roar like a tiger in command of the situation when he stood on the ramparts of the Red Fort behind the myriad mikes. Indeed Atal Ji took his own time to make a beginning, develop the theme, throw in healthy humour and gradually near the winding up operation. When he invited the assembled school children, the NCC cadets and citizenry sitting in front of the ramparts to join him in a chorus with a thunderous voice and say:  JAI HIND. The assembly of young and old responded with matching Josh or enthusiasm. Jawaharlal Nehru had started this tradition of saying Jai Hind, as was the military tradition of the Indian National Army under the leadership of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and it has been going on for 66 years.

The 67^th Indpendance Day will see Dr Manmohan Singh climb up the rostrum on the ramparts the NINTH time. Some political pundits predict that perhaps this will be the last opportunity to say to the Nation what he has been briefed about.

His zeal in making friends with Pakistan, notwithstanding that enemy country’s deceit, deception and surreptitious cowardly attacks on India and pushing the Islamic terrorists into India to indulge into bloodbath like the one in Mumbai, has certainly not endeared meek Manmohan to the common man who loves Bharat. One wonders why some of his ilk may not be loving Bharat less but they love Pakistan more.

We look forward to seeing  the Indpendance Day ceremony on the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15 August 2014. Let us wait with Great Expectations to see and hear a new Prime Minister roar from the Red Fort ramparts and elevate the morale of the Nation and restore the Glory of the country called Bharat.

Email : sawantchitranjan@yahoo.com        Mobile:  9811173590.

SECULAR BROTHERHOOD IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR IS A MYTH. BUST IT NOW.

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         COMMUNAL DIVIDE IN J&K ALWAYS PLAGUED PEOPLE

                                        By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM

Dr Karan Singh, a Congress member of the Rajya Sabha made a candid short speech in the House throwing light on the incompetence of State Administration in handling the volatile situation in Kishtwar before9th August and thereafter too. A former Yuraj of the Hindu Dogra ruling dynasty and a Sadre Riyasat of the J&K State during the Sheikh Abdullah government, Dr Karan Singh knows the people and political under currents like nobody else. He made a true analysis by saying that the undercurrent of communal divide was always present there and he had represented the parliamentary constituency of which Kishtwar was a part for fifteen years. He deserves to be congratulated for telling the truth.

EYE OPENER

Dr Karan Singh further said in Hindi “ Agar aap samajhte hain ki gaadi wahan chal rahi hai to main bata doon ki gaadi ekdam chal nahi rahi hai.” Apparently he was referring to incompetence of the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, in general and criminal delay in handling the riots in Kishtwar effectively in particular. Dr Karan Singh’s national credentials have always stood the test of time. It was he who, as Sadre Riyasat of J&K had signed the warrant of arrest of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953 when the latter had strayed from the path of secular nationalism and had nurtured a dream of becoming the Sultan of Kashmir. Sheikh’s ideas and speeches were more communal than that of the Muslim League and he had become more anti-India than the politicians of Pakistan. He had even raised doubts about the legality of that state acceding to India.

Even Jawaharlal Nehru, a bosom friend of the rebellious Sheikh was alarmed and perforce gave a nod to his removal from the office of CM and arrest. It was Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the new Chief Minister, who fully integrated that State with the Republic of India. Omar Abdullah is the grandson of the same Sheikh Abdullah. No wonder he raises the cry of J&K reverting to the pre 1953 constitutional status. Thus he indirectly stokes the fire of separatists in their slogan for AZADI that was raised every now and then in Kishtwar before the situation flared up.

Dr Farooq Abdullah, Sheikh’s son, never took any action against the unruly and riotous Kashmiris who burnt the Indian National Flag and raised pro-Pakistan slogans in his presence time and again. He never came down on the separatists and pro-Pakistan elements among Kashmiri Muslims with a heavy hand.

MAHARAJAH’S MUSLIM TROOPS REVOLTED

Going back to the partition days in 1947 when J&K was still an independent territoty under Maharajah Sir Hari Singh, father of Dr Karan Singh, when the Muslim troops of his State Forces in Gilgit and Chitral has revolted against His Highness on communal grounds and hoisted the Pakistan flag. Thus a large part of the State was handed over to Pakistan on a silver platter by the Maharajah’s Muslim troops. It was rank communalism.

In the same year when Jinnah launched the Pushtoon and other tribals, officered by Pakistan army officers,  in an outrageous attack of the Maharajah’s J&K, the Muslim troops of Sir Hari Singh revolted against the Hindu ruler and joined hands with the raiding tribal Muslims. Wasn’t it a proof of communalism that the Namak Haram soldiers joined hands with the invading enemy?

ETHNIC CLEANSING OF KASHMIR VALLEY

In 1989-90 terrorism of Islamic Jihadis peaked. Many senior judges and bureaucrats belonging to the Kashmiri Pundit community were killed by Muslims. The hate-Hindu campaign of rabid communal forces was crysal clear when terrifying slogans were raised from mosques on microphones asking the Kashmiri Pundits to quit Kashmir. They were threatened with rape, loot and genocide. Almost all the self respecting Kashmiri Pundits left the Kashmir valley and moved to Jammu, Delhi and other safe places. None of the so-called secular Muslims of Kashmir came to their rescue. The vacant houses, temples and other places of Hindu worship were burnt down. Who will say that there is brotherhood between the Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir valley? This kind of brotherhood and secularism is just a myth to lull the Government of India into sleep and allow the inflow of Indian tax-payers money flow into the pockets of communal Kashmiris.

KISHTWAR REVISITED

When the Hindu houses and shops burnt by Muslim mobs of hooligans, the district police, civil administration and even the State’s Home Minister, Sajjad Kitchloo were just mute spectators. They did not swing into action to douse the fire of communal frenzy. Why? When accusing fingers of partisan attitude and of inciting mobs to loot and plunder, commit arson and murder were raised, he had little option but to resign. It is reported that the Governor, Shri N.N. Vohra has accepted his resignation on the recommendation of the Chief Minister.

By the way no arrests of murderers and arsonists were made from 9^th August to 12^th August when Parliament discuss the Kishtwar mayhem and put the Central government on back foot. It was only then that the State Administration swung into action and made some arrests.

When Rome was burning Nero was fiddling. In J&K when Kishtwar was burning Omar Abdullah was tweeting. He derives comfort in waging a tweet war with the BJP leaders rather than take action on the Intelligence inputs about simmering situation in Kishtwar. Because of his inaction against the separatist elements, the latter have grown from bold to bolder and preach anti-India philosophy. On the pubic and private walls in downtown Kishtwar, posters of condemned traitors like Maqbool Bhatt and the hanged attacker of Sansad Bhawan were posted and the traitors were eulogized. When the nationalist Hindus protested, the large crowd of Muslims from Eidgah came down with a heavy hand on them. The teenage son of the President of Kishtwar Bahujan Samaj Party president was brutally killed. The goons pumped as many as seventeen bullets into his body. The police remained an inactive spectator. The district administration and the Minister of State for Home, Sajjad Kitchloo were gripped with inertia. Or were they a part of deeper and sinister conspiracy to cleanse Kishtwar of the Hindus?

An impartial inquiry by an unimpeachable individual or a body of civil society must probe the sisnister Kishtwar episode  to find out the truth. The blame must be laid at the door of culprits whosoever they may be. Further those who have suffered the loss of loved ones and whose property has been burnt or destroyed must be compensated adequately.

It is heartening to note that Shri P Chidambaram, officiating Union Home Minister, has assured the Indian nation that the events of 1990 when the Kashmiri Pundits were hounded out by communalist Muslims would not be allowed to be repeated in Kishtwar. Thus the ghost of anti-national conspiracy to cleanse Kishtwar of the Hindu community has been laid at rest. Let us hope and trust that what Shri Chidambaram said were not mere words but a solemn promise made to the Parliament and the Indian Nation and the Central government would now swing into action to keep the Minister’s word.

Email : sawantchitranjan@yahoo.com       Mobile:  9811173590.