Author: Sukhmani Singh, Jaipur
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 26, 2002
Introduction: Why don't the politicians
send their sons to die?
Three years have passed since 27-year-old
Lieutenant Amit Bharadwaj of 4 Jat died in the Kargil conflict. Embarking
from the idyllic Kaksar in search of fellow officer Saurabh Kalia, whose
body was mutilated by the Pakistani Army, Bharadwaj and his patrol were
trapped in enemy fire on May 17. It was then that the Indian Army realised
how deep the enemy had infiltrated. Bharadwaj died while giving covering
fire to ten of his colleagues, who escaped.
Today, a government school in the
heart of the state's capital has been renamed in his memory. So has a road
in Jaipur's Malviya Nagar. A grand granite samadhi pays him homage in a
municipal park near his parents home. His 32 year-old sister Sunita runs
a petrol pump in the same locality, adorned with a huge hoarding of a uniform-clad
Bharadwaj in Drass.
His death made his father, retired
Bank official O.P Sharma, 62, a celebrity overnight. "We are known by our
sods identity and not the other way around. People show us respect wherever
we go. On Raksha Bandhan boys come here to tie rakhis on my daughter's
wrist. I feel proud that he died in Kargil," he says.
A glass showcase in his drawing
room displays trophies presented by various citizens associations in the
state. Occupying pride of place alongside is their sods cap, uniform and
the neatly folded Indian flag in which Amit's body returned almost two
months after he was killed.
His father visits his samadhi twice
everyday to light incense sticks. Trees are planted in the nearby park
on his birthday and to mark his death anniversary, the family organises
a blood donation camp.
Amit's mother, Sushila, draws comfort
in the belief that her son has been reborn in the form of her one-and-half-year-old
grandson Kanu, Sunita's son. "He looks just like Amit and his habits are
similar. I feel he has come back to me," she says. But it is difficult
to carry on. "I feel my life has no purpose now. My only son is no more,
there is nobody to give me support," she says.
Sunita, who had to fight for the
petrol pump and other compensation promised to Kargil martyrs, has nothing
but contempt for the country's politicians. "Why don't they send their
sons to the Army and let them risk their lives? All they do is deliver
fancy statements. About 20 soldiers are dying in Kashmir daily, it is better
to suffer casualties once and for all. The time for patience is gone, why
do we listen to America? The government should give the Army a free hand.
There should be an aarpaar ki ladai."
Strong words, but her father agrees.
"Nothing can be achieved through words. Terrorists are getting more emboldened,
the Indian public is losing confidence. We must destroy terrorist camps
in Muzaffarabad. Otherwise innocent people will continue to be killed here."
