Deccan Chronicle

A crying shame

- The writer, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir

ignored and culprits glorified.

Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of the JNU Students’ Union, may have been wrongly apprehende­d. Overnight he has become a “national hero”. I commend him for his forthright statement of loyalty to the Constituti­on. He is said to have made a similar statement in JNU when anti-India slogans like “Har ghar se Afzal niklega, Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi, Pakistan zindabad” were being raised. I would have been happier if he had done something as president of JNUSU to counter such anti-national slogans or at least withdrawn from the scene as a mark of protest. I will not question these slogans being treasonabl­e or seditious. Let legal luminaries split hair in regard to this.

The JNUSU under Leftist control has a dubious reputation. In 2000, it organised a mushaira, inviting poets from Pakistan, at which India was ridiculed and anti-India statements made. Two soldier veterans of the Kargil war objected and were beaten up. They were hospitalis­ed. Sacrifices made by Indian soldiers in war with Pakistan count for little among our intellectu­als at JNU. No wonder they eulogise the likes of Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru, but have no time for Hanumantha­ppa Koppad, who had survived miraculous­ly after remaining buried in snow for six days, fighting for life at the Army Research & Referral Hospital nearby, or for the nine soldiers who perished in the avalanche and the other soldiers who risked their lives in such difficult conditions to locate the dead bodies. Possibly like a Cabinet minister in Bihar who said that soldiers are meant to die, they share such thinking. They pay homage to Maqbool Bhat but have no time for Maqbool Sherwani, a National Conference worker. In November 1947, the latter misled the invaders from Pakistan, comprising the Pakistan Army and Pakistan tribesmen, at Baramulla, delaying the enemy’s approach to Srinagar. He also tried to save Kashmiri Hindus from massacre. He was crucified on a wooden cross near Baramulla Convent. I saw this gory sight on November 7, 1947, when we liberated Baramulla. I had a suitable memorial to him put up in 2005.

JNU is named after Jawaharlal who was a Kashmiri Pandit. His kinsmen have been brought to miserable straits. Their hundred odd temples in the Valley were vandalised much before Babri Masjid was destroyed in 1992 and condemned by all of us. The Israeli problem is of much concern to the worthies at JNU and our great secular leaders who have totally ignored the Kashmiri Pandits. The crown prince parachuted to the top slot for no other qualificat­ion other than his Kashmiri Pandit lineage follows suit. In his new incarnatio­n after his mysterious sabbatical as a shouting and destructiv­e Opposition leader, he exploits any issue that will fetch votes. No wonder he has been to JNU and University of Hyderabad.

The British treated a law court as a temple of sanctity. There was never any hooliganis­m in a court when Mahatma Gandhi appeared as a convict. At Ahmedabad, the British judge stood up to honour him as he was brought into his court. Despite the highly charged atmosphere outside, the dignity of the court trying the Indian National Army officers was scrupulous­ly maintained. It is a pity that the Delhi Police failed to anticipate events and bedlam prevailed at JNU and at the Patiala House courts due to lack of suitable preventive action. I may be dubbed an old fogey out of tune with modern times for expressing my anguish at these tragic events. In my defence, I can only submit that for 40 years I served in the Army in war and peace, facing risk and hardship. Cry, my dear country, cry.

Progressiv­e and liberal views are welcome in a democracy... Maqbool Bhat, Yakub Memon, Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab have been hailed as heroes in JNU. The legitimacy of hanging can be questioned and different views expressed, but making these criminals seem like heroes is another matter.

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