Nov 1, 1999

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Having triumphed on the battlefront like their fellow jawans in Kargil, soldiers of earlier conflicts and their families today struggle to live with dignity in the face of an apathetic and insensitive public.

By Rohit Parihar

Heroes and hype -- they go hand in hand. As a nation, Indians have always put their war heroes on a high pedestal, and deservingly so. They shower them with praise, decorate them with medals, smother them with gifts, and lull them with promises of every kind. But they also have a nasty habit of soon forgetting these soldiers. Once the hype is over, the promises still remain promises many, many years later. These war heroes are torn between a feeling of honour and a sense of betrayal. Over time, the sense of betrayal dominates their lives leaving them bitter and confused. As Raghu Nath Singh Meena, a 1971 Vir Chakra awardee, says, " I am angry but helpless. I never asked for that medal. Why was it given to me?"

It's a question that blows endlessly in the wind. Today, as the Kargil martyrs are being eulogised, heroes of earlier, forgotten wars feel neglected and ignored.

Meena is a good example. Once an active and proud man, today he is a picture of despair and rarely talks. Others in his village still recount how as a young gunner for 17 Grenadiers, he kept the fusillade going in stopping the Pakistani Army's advance in Barmer in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. He didn't flinch when armour banged against armour and shells exploded around him. But today Meena is shell-shocked for a completely innocuous reason: no one answers him when he asks why the state made promises which it never intended to keep.

Meena's tale of woe began when he requested that land offered to him be allotted in his village Amarawasi in Bhilwara instead of in the Indira Gandhi Canal area. But when he returned to his village upon retirement as honourary naib subedar in 1987, he was asked to pay a fee for having ploughed 27 bighas of land that was supposed to be only for grazing. So far, he has paid Rs 30,000. Meena now feels that life would have been better had he not been promised the land. "The government has taken away my peace of mind at an age when I deserved it the most,'' he mumbles.

Official as well as public apathy is a frustrating experience for war heroes and their families. Some of them do not even want any money or land; they would be satisfied with memorial for their loved ones. Aashi Devi -- widow of Grenadier Gorakh Ram Jakhar of Neora Road, Jodhpur, who died in the 1971 war -- does not mind that she did not get the promised land. What hurts is that the proposal for naming a nearby railway station after the Vir Chakra winner has not been implemented even after 28 long years. " It's easier for them to change the names of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta than to name a remote place after a war hero,'' she says.

The unkindest cut of all is that the government has consistently failed to honour even token promises. Rifleman Mohan Singh's family was promised 25 bighas of irrigated land in his Ketoo Kalan village in Jodhpur when the 11 Rajputana Rifles jawan was killed in an LTTE ambush in the jungles of Sri Lanka. In reality the plot is among sand dunes 300 km away in Jaisalmer. His widow Chottu Kanwar is anguished when she hears the promises being made to the Kargil martyrs. "We were fooled by all that talk of a grateful nation," she says.

But, of course, there are some who got nothing except their 15 minutes of fame. Megh Singh (6 Rajputana Rifles) could well be the unknown soldier. Forget naming streets after him, the Vir Chakra winner of the 1948 war did not even get land or cash. One has to walk miles in ankle-deep sand to reach his house in Devatu village in Jodhpur.

"Why don't the families of the war decorated ever get any help?" asks Megh Singh's brother Khem Singh, who retired from 20 Rajputana Rifles. "Because ministers eat up all the money." He finds nothing unusual in their house having no power connection or that Megh Singh's daughter-in-law Ratan Kanwar, a mother of three and wife of Kushal Singh, a soldier who fought in Kargil, has to walk three kilometres to fetch water. The children also have to trudge the same distance to reach their school. Ratan Kanwar is a sad woman today. "Who cares for the Vir Chakra? My father-in-law even lost the panchayat elections," she says of the apathy that has tarnished the coveted gallantry awards.

COSTLY MEDAL
Meena was penalised Rs 30,000 for ploughing a portion of land that was allotted to him. And with the meagre yield, the 1971 war hero can't support his family of 18
As a young gunner in the 1971 war, Raghu Nath Singh Meena had shown exemplary courage in stopping the Pakistani advance in Barmer He was allotted 50 bighas of land by a "grateful" government for his battlefield exploits. Of this, 27 bighas comprised grazing land which apparently he was not supposed to use for growing crops. When he returned to his village, Amarawasi in Bhilwara, in 1987 on retiring from the army he was slapped with a penalty for ploughing those 27 bighas. The Vir Chakra winner has made umpteen representations to the government to get the property transferred in his name, but without success. The plot is in a rain-fed area and is fit only for growing fodder. Meena says that he could have purchased land on his own with that kind of money.

DRY PROMISES
The land allotted to Mohan Singh's widow lies among sand dunes far from her village
What the family of Mohan Singh got from the Rajasthan government for the Vir Chakra was Rs 2,500, a sewing machine and 25 bighas of "irrigated" land. The plot actually lies among sand dunes, 300 km away. In 1991, Chottu Kanwar, his wife, was told the land would get access to water within three years but she is not counting on that eventuality. "We were fooled by the talk of a grateful nation," she says.

SHORT MEMORY
Gorakh Ram Jakhar's widow has been sending out reminders for renaming a local station after him
Immediately after Gorakh Ram Jakhar was martyred, the state's politicians announced the naming of a railway station in his locality, Madiai Kalla Halt, after him. It's been 28 years now but the renaming has not taken place despite Aashi Devi, his wife, making numerous representations to various authorities to do the needful. Even the promise of a memorial has remained just that.

DARK DAYS
1948 hero Megh Singh's house still does not have electricity or tapped water
There are no roads, streets or schools named after 1948 war hero Megh Singh who died a few years ago at the age of 80. There's only his house in remote Devatu village in Jodhpur. His younger brother Khem Singh, who also retired from the Rajputana Rifles, asks, "Why don't the families of those decorated in war ever get help?" He answers the question himself: "Because ministers take all the money for themselves." Meanwhile, the Vir Chakra winner's daughter-in-law Ratan Kanwar is forced to walk 3 km to fetch water, her children the same distance to school.

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