13 Kumaon's Last Stand: Chushul, November 18, 1962

This article is very close to my heart. There are so many unsung heros like this who have laid their life for the mother land, for nothing in return. Kaalathaal sarithira aasiriyargal marandalum, sathiyam ivangalai marakkadu. May be, this is what is selfless sacrifice. I have never felt sorry for not being able to write poems. I was happy that lest, I have the gift of appreciating the good ones, until I read this. there was Avvaiyar to sing barani that day. But, today, we have so many poets running from pillar to post after nothing but money writing stupid duets in movies. Not one has written anything about this one. I felt terribly sorry for being a handicap in literature.

I wanted to write it on my own. But, how could I write it better than my favourite Rajeev Srinivasan from whom I came to know about this 13th Kumaon and Shaitan Singh.

Anyhow, I don't wanna bore you with my lecture. read on...

Murali.
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Rajeev Srinivasan
http://in.rediff.com/news/2002/nov/19rajeev.htm

13 Kumaon's Last Stand: Chushul, November 18, 1962

Most of us studied the Alfred Tennyson poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' in school. The Battle of Thermopylae we read of with goose bumps. We all know about Custer's Last Stand. And the battle cry 'Remember the Alamo!' resonates with us.

Yet, none of us has heard of the 13th Kumaon Battalion's Last Stand at Rezang La, Ladakh, in the Battle of Chushul, on November 18, 1962. I think this is a great pity.

For, let us remind ourselves of these examples of heroism:

* The Battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece in 480 BCE, where 300 Spartans under Leonidas stopped a Persian army of 250,000 at a narrow mountain pass. They died to the last man, but provided enough time for the rest of the Greek army to escape to fight another day.
* The 13th Light Brigade of the British Army at Balaclava, the Crimea, in 1854. Six hundred and seventy-three men rode at Russian artillery and were decimated.
* At the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, in 1836, several hundred Texans held out against the Mexican Army before they were killed to the last man.
* Custer's Last Stand was the Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876, in Montana where the Sioux nation under Chief Sitting Bull wiped out George Custer and 265 men.

And finally:
* The C company of the 13th Kumaon Battalion, under Major Shaitan Singh (Param Vir Chakra, Posthumous) held off a fierce Chinese attack on November 18, 1962, at the Rezang La heights that they held. Massively outnumbered and outgunned, the defenders died almost to the last man, and expended their last round. All 114 men were killed or wounded. But they succeeded in blunting the Chinese assault, killing as many as a thousand Chinese in the process at Rezang La and at nearby Gurung Hill. Thereafter, the Chinese did not push further towards the Chushul plain. It was a critical checkpoint on a potential Chinese advance on Leh.

The story of 13th Kumaon is the kind of thing that would make the patriotic Indian stand tall with tears in his eyes. Yet, we do not stand in silence for a moment in memory of Major Shaitan Singh and his gallant men. No poet eulogizes them as Tennyson did the Light Brigade. There is only a small memorial at the site, which says:

How can a Man die Better than facing Fearful Odds,
For the Ashes of His Fathers and the Temples of His Gods,
To the sacred memory of the Heroes of Rezang La,
114 Martyrs of 13 Kumaon who fought to the Last Man,
Last Round, Against Hordes of Chinese on 18 November 1962.
Built by All Ranks 13th Battalion, The Kumaon Regiment.

I am indebted to the Bharat-Rakshak web site for this information as well as a long article on the Battle of Chushul by L N Subramanian. Yet, why is there nothing written about them along the lines of what Tennyson did, as in these excerpts from his stirring poem:

Half a league half a league
Half a league onward...
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred...

Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd;
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die...

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;...

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade...

Why have Indians so consistently ignored the great sacrifices made by our soldiers? Why isn't the story of the valiant 13th Kumaon a part of every child's textbooks? Why have we let these brave men die unwept, unmourned, and unsung? Just as we let thousands of soldiers die in Kashmir, in Kargil, everywhere, they are mere cannon fodder. India needs a draft, so people in power feel the pain of their children dying for the nation.

I think I know why there is no official celebration of the Battle of Chushul: the government can hardly bother to honour the Unknown Soldier on Kargil Day. Then how will they remember something that happened forty years ago?

There is also an element of shame. Congress governments were unwilling to talk about 1962 because it brings out the fact that 'someone had blunder'd' and that was their deity, Jawaharlal Nehru, along with his defence minister, V K Krishna Menon. Admitting this would leave them shamefaced, so they just let the soldiers 'but do and die'. Even the current government is unwilling to publish the Henderson Brooks report. Why? It will at least shed some light on what happened.

The media in India should have taken this up in the absence of governmental action. But the media, influenced by Chinese propaganda, has portrayed the 1962 war on Chinese terms. Aping the Xinhua propaganda agency, Indian media mavens have taken the stand that the war was India's fault. As though Indians, with no mountain divisions, would go over the Himalayas and attack the Chinese in Tibet and Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh!

The Marxists in India say the 1962 affair was an internal matter for the Chinese, as they have generously 'awarded' Arunachal Pradesh to China. The Chinese believe this, too. They told the CM of Arunachal Pradesh recently that he did not need a visa to go to China, as he was a Chinese citizen! Americans, Britons and Australians accept China's lies, for it suits them to support China.

But we know that all this isn't true. Individual Indians must remember the 13th Kumaon. As the Quebec motto goes, Je me souviens: I remember. And I shall always remember those brave men of C Company who died in a frozen wasteland. For me. For you.

Volcker Report: Shud Natwar be nabbed ?

I think NO. Let me try to see what happenned and what is best for us.

After Iraq invaded neighbouring Kuwait in 1990, the UN imposed economic sanctions on the country. In the face of a global appeal to save the people of Iraq from bearing the brunt of the sanctions on its dictatorial regime, the UN started the Oil for Food Programme in December 1996 until the end of 2002. The programme was officially closed in March 2003 when the US and UK invaded Iraq.

Under the Programme, Iraq could sell its oil at UN-prescribed prices in exchange of humanitarian goods. Under the Programme, Iraq sold $64.2 billion worth of oil to 248 companies and 3,614 firms sold $34.5 billion worth of humanitarian goods to Baghdad. The programme ended in 2003.

After the invation of Iraq by US unilaterally without the UN resolution, An individual committee was appointed to find the misuse of this programme by the Oil ministry in the Saddam's regime.

Paul A Volcker, former chairman of US Federal Reserve, headed the Committee, which also included South Africa's Justice Richard Goldstone and Switzerland's Mark Pieth, chairman of the Working Group on Bribery in International Transactions at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

From Germany, France, England to Russia, India and Australia, the report names almost 2,400 firms and individuals who paid the Saddam regime money under the guise of the United Nations' Oil for food Programme.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed the Committee on April 21, 2004, to investigate allegations of corruption in the Oil for Food Programme. Allegations had sprung up in various publications, including Baghdad's al-Mada newspaper, which published names of 270 individuals and companies.

The Committee found that Saddam's regime had devised a scheme to fox the UN and suck money for itself from the Oil for Food Programme. The number of firms who had paid Saddam was more than half the number of firms that had dealings with Iraq under the programme.

Under this programme, Baghdad was allowed the power of choosing who it sold the oil to, a loophole which the Saddam regime exploited to garner $1.8 billion for itself.

Saddam gifted oil vouchers to supporters across the globe. Beneficiaries also included vocal anti-sanctions politicians. The vouchers could be sold to companies at higher prices, a part of which found its way into Iraqi accounts.

In the invoices for the oil sales that were presented to the UN, the illegal payments were disguised as 'after-sales service fees' or 'inland transportation fees'.

Jammu and Kashmir Panther's Party leader Bhim Singh, the Congress party, Reliance and Natwar Singh are the four 'non-contractual beneficiaries' from India named in the Volcker report.

The report says Natwar Singh and the Congress party sold their oil vouchers to a Swiss oil trading company, Masefield AG. These are the allegations against Natwar and his son.

Ok... So, How do we react to this ?

Shud Natwar resign for such an allegation? I think not. Atleast, not until George Bush, Tony Blair and Koffi Annan have resigned. If we legitimise the report and ask Natwar to resign, it will be like legitimising the US for the unilateral invasion of Iraq.

The whole basis for invading Iraq were,

First, Iraq was clandestinely acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Second, it was in league with the Al Qaeda.
Third, it had carried out large-scale massacres of the Shias.
And four, it had misused the UN's Oil-For-Food-Programme.

Of the four, the first three have already been proved to be blatant lies. There is, therefore, a compulsive urge for US to show that at least the fourth allegation was correct.

After the invasion all the official papers of Iraqi OIL Ministry and whatever ministry is available with the US now. They can do whetever they want to justify their acts. And even if it is true, even if the allegations are true, what are we as Indians supposed to do and how are we suppose to treat Natwar ?

Like Bofers, we cannot just sit on top of it or ridicule it saying that it is illegitimate. The max that we can do is see if Natwar made any trip to Jordon during that period. Even if it is true, we cannot prove that he travelled to Jordon to make a visit to Iraq. B'cos his son has married a girl from Jordon.

We cannot start an individual comittee to probe this because,

1. He has not swindled the Indian tax payers money. Hence, we cannot use our money to probe that.
2. The findings will however be incomplete as long as we don't get all the origional documents that were part of Volcker's investigation. Which we can never expect from the US.

This needs to be debated in the over-all national interest. We should resist the temptation to exploit it for partisan political purposes. Keeping all this in view, one should avoid jumping to conclusions regarding the veracity of the reference to Natwar in the report. Though I don't like Natwar for many reasons, I don't want him to step down. What Manmohan has done is right. I too support him for standing firmly behind Natwar. Though he is removed from the portfolio, he is still a cabinet minister.

Infact, The Oil For Food Program itself has been a biggest international scam. They have paid half the amount of the money got from this programme to other countries. They have paid the Nuclear investigators, they have paid $18 billion as 'reparation costs!' to Kuwait, they have financed even this investigation team with that money. In the name of humanitarian programme what is this? Tell me what is this in the name of GOD? They have paid more than 10 times the money what Saddam got by finding loopholes.

So, with all these, Why shud we react to such a report, trying to legitimise the invasion of some country unilaterally and then being imposed by UN, which has inturn become irrelevent by the Secoretary general's own son who was paid around $3000 every month for.. I don't know a long period of time... or so...

Anyhow, it is good for India that we try to react, but in reality we do what we do.. Look at what france has done. One of the oldest democracies. They have sat over the report. No big hue and cries. That is what we shud be doing. It is others war. Let them fight it. Natwar has not done anything with my money or any other tax payers money. Why shout from the roof tops, huh?

- Murali

Indira Gandhi - The Iron Lady of India

Before I write this article, I have a confession to make. When I started writing about Indira Gandhi, I was biased, pre-judiced and bent highly upon disfaming her. But, when I started collecting information about her, right from her birth to death, I am left with mixed feeling.

I am amazed at seeing her fore sight and courage in ordering the army to enter the Golden Temple to restore the law and order in Punjab as well as keeping the soverignty of the Indian Union. At the same time, I am vexed at seeing the sheer audocity of her to downplay the Allahabad high court's order and proclaim emergency in India for the first and only time in Independent India.

It was highly difficult for me to guage this unusual lady. I am always under the impression that a single man/woman is not capable enough to deciede what is right and what is wrong for the whole nation. That is why, I condemn any unilateral decisions made by any great men in history, may it be the Mahatma or his pet or his leutinant or even Bose or whoever it may be. The same applies to me also. How can I, an individual deciede what she did was right or wrong for the whole country in course of time? Anyhow, right or wrong, I have made an attempt at guaging this Iron Lady. However when I finally did it, I have tried to be as neutral, unbiased and fair as possible.

Remember, the suffix Gandhi stuck not for her love for Mahatma, but from her husband Feroz Khan, who changed his name to Feroz Gandhi in the England gazette before marrying her in London.

In her childhood days Indira was a very shy and reserved kid. Very few if not none, would have expected/predicted that oneday it would be that India is Indira and Indira is India.

After Nehru's death, Lal Bahadur took over as the PM and Indira was the Information and broadcasting Minister. After Shastri, no one wanted Gulzarilal Nanda or Morarji Desai. Kamaraj could have become the PM. But, he being a straight forward not so literate man thoguht that it would be better for India if Indira takes over. He became a king maker for the second time and supported her. She was elected. Kamaraj had not reckoned with her innate political sense or that being Prime Minister has its own power. She soon sidelined everyone. People would say the Cabinet has only one man (Indira Gandhi) and that the rest are all eunuchs, but the fact is she reduced them to that level.

She was very smart. I should say street smart. Her greatest moment, the triumph in her life, was the way she handled the Bangladesh crisis, where all her skills came together. She made a complete fool of the Pakistanis.

India faced a huge crisis with a flood of refugees entering the country. She tried to garner international support and went round the world telling them what was happening but got no backing except from the Soviet Union, which any way was with us.

Then, when she realised the crisis had to reach a climax, she proved very astute. For instance, an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked. Today we know that it was the Indians who manoeuvred to get the plane to land in Lahore. Then, in Lahore, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (then Pakistan's foreign minister) proved stupid enough to have the plane blown up in his presence. This gave India the excuse it needed to stop flights between West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) over India, something that gave India a clear edge as the war drew nearer. Pakistani planes had to fly all the way round India and refuel in Sri Lanka to communicate between the two wings.

Indian Army built the Mukthi Bahini with her support and by the time Yahya khan realised what happenned and declared war, the Indian Army was marching well inside Bangladesh. In less than a fortnight, the Pakistani army surrendered. After the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, Vajpayee, who was the Leader of the Opposition, stood up in Parliament and congratulated Indira Gandhi for her courage and vision and praised her as Durga. That was her reckonning moment in life and thats when the Gods smiled at India. Everything went in our side until the war was won by India. And she deserves every bit of it. The credit goes entirely to her for taking a bold quick decision which gave India her best victory ever. It was by all accounts a master strategy and Indira Gandhi very deservedly got the Bharat Ratna.

But, the problem with her or anybody for that matter for being at the peak of popularity is that, there is no up. You have to come down from the peak. What she did after winning the war is that she missed a golden oppurtunity in winning the war decisively. She gave back the land that we won in war and gave back the all of 90000 POW to pakistan for what? For nothing. The simla agreement stands useless today. Only India respects and stands by it. But, did pakistan ? Not yet. Not yet.

After 71, we had the emergency. But when it came to the Emergency, the Opposition too behaved very recklessly. There was no doubt that the country was fast sliding into chaos. Schools not opening, colleges not opening, huge processions, riots.

Jayaprakash Narayan made a mammoth mistake when he led this huge rally in New Delhi where he told the people to gherao legislators, not allow them to attend office. Worse, he asked the police and the Indian Army personnel to remove the legislators. There are limits to protests in any democracy and this was exceeding the limits altogether.

Allahabad high court judgment came through and she clamped the Emergency. SHE WAS RIGHT AND THERE WAS NO OTHER CHOICE. But, who created the whole mess in the first place ? She herself. She did the same mistake in punjab as well. I believe that when she imposed the Emergency, she had every right then because leaders of the Opposition were behaving in a total reckless, irresponsible and anti-national manner, just enjoying the spectacle. I heard that, when the Emergency was imposed, there was a general sense of relief throughout the country. Schools reopened, colleges reopened, trains ran on time, and there was a sense of gratitude that the country was back to normal. Of course, the freedom of the people had been taken away. The Emergency was made into a monster. She lost the next elections.

Sanjay's death in 1980 she dithered, she couldn't make up her mind, she became nervous. She started grooming Rajiv, who was until then considered to be politically dumb.

And then Operation Bluestar hapenned. This single event which occurred in Punjab almost to the day shook the Republic of India to its very foundations. She did the right thing. That was a very bold decision. It had to happen. Though I believe that sikhs are the most patriotic lot who have given their everything to save our motherland, I think they erred in this.

Though Jarnail Singh Bindranwale is Indira's own creation, she had to remove him for what a Franinstein monster he had become. It was time when but for a few states, Congress was ruling the most of India. Just because Congress's hold loosened in Punjab, she tried to split Akali Dal and created Bindranwale. But He tuned again her in due course.

Sikh extremists seeking to carve an independent country had been slowly but surely taking control of the state over the next couple of years, striking terror in the hearts of politicians, law-enforcers, and the general population. The killings began in 1983 with a murder here, a shootout there. Through the year, however, the frequency of attacks and the toll kept rising and by May 1984 dozens of innocent people were being murdered daily in cold blood, all in the name of 'freedom.'

A massive religious cleansing movement was underway in Punjab, which had become India's granary after the Green Revolution of the mid-to-late 1960s. Law and order had collapsed, and the corrupt and demoralised Punjab police was simply not up to the task of restoring it.

Heading this bloody movement was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a preacher turned separatist who ran his terrorist campaign from the confines of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, in Amritsar. Bhindranwale openly defied the Indian State from his sanctuary. But the police dared not enter the temple complex, for fear of outraging the sentiments of the Sikhs, arguably India's most dynamic and popular minority community.

With the situation rapidly getting out of hand, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took a momentous decision. She ordered the Indian Army to move into Punjab and decisively clear the terrorists who were armed and aided by Pakistan.

To flush the terrorists and their masterminds out of the Golden Temple complex, the army launched what is possibly its most controversial action, Operation Bluestar, under the command of Major General Kuldip Singh Brar.

The decision had to be taken, and she took it. She deserves every credit to take the decision. I miss her for not being with us when the Kashmir armed struggle started in 89. She reckons when there is a national problem. She peaks whenever the nation is facing a disaster. But, at times of peace, she did terrible mistakes.

In her insecurity to be at the helm, she destroyed the institutions of democracy. She packed Parliament with her supporters with loyalty being more important than ability; she superseded judges; she corrupted the civil service. Favouritism became a great sport with her.

She was incapable of tolerating any criticism and she picked up an aversion to some persons because she thought they were challenging her, among them Jayaprakash Narayan, a good, honest man. She couldn't stand him because he was a challenge to her as the leader of the country, especially as people grew disillusioned with her rule. There were problems, droughts, challenges and Jayaprakash Narayan had emerged as a leader. It is a democracy if only there are many leaders to choose from.

During her reign, corruption increased to enormous levels. She was really very tolerant of corruption, which was another negative mark against her. She knew perfectly well that some of her ministers were extremely corrupt, yet she took no steps against them till it suited her.

If she knew someone was corrupt, she tolerated him but if it suited her, she used the same corruption charge to get rid of him. She really had no strong views on corruption, which went sky high during her time. She nationalised the banks, the airlines and manythings along with that.

So, its very difficult to guage her with all these pros and cons. Ms.Jayalalitha is playing the same game today. Infact an even more worse game. She is capable of so much. Yet she is not doing enough to her potential.

After Nehru, Indira had 16-year-long rule. She had an enormous influence. She had enormous potential. Yet she didn't use all of them. Her street smartness came in handy while playing with another street smart, Pakistan. But, when it comes to Magnanimity she became an ordinary Indian and gave the POW and the land back. She should have got back the POK and then should have given the land and POWs. Anyhow, it is history and we surely miss her in teh late 80s for not being effective with the Kashmiri militants. And the worse we had an inept political setup in Delhi during 89-90.

But whatever may be said and done, she has a lot of feathers in her collar. She initiated the first Pokran test. The way she handled the Bangladesh war and the Punjab crisis was simply marvelous. She deserves every bit to get the Bharat Ratna. Four months and three weeks after the Operation Bluestar, Indira Gandhi paid the penultimate price for ordering Operation Bluestar. Her own guards shot her on Oct 31st 1984.

Indira Gandhi is remembered for 1971, 1974 and 1984. We should also remember the kind of things she did which are difficult to undo even today. She legitimised corruption as a way of politics. She undermined the roots of democracy. Sanjay who was just a PM's son went beserk during emergency. She played split politics with anybody and everybody. But for her NTR wouldn't have been so successful. Punjab wouldn't have seen so much blood. At the same time, we need such a lady to handle Kashmir which we missed in the form of a puny Rajiv or chandrasekar. Even in the 1971 war, instead of winning a decisive war, she fumbled with the advantages. She became a soft deity in the form of giving away everythign for nothing. Yes, the decision to return was correct. Instead of being an occupying force in Pakistan, we gave back. That was the roght thing to do. But, for what ? For nothing? That was the only time, we could have got back POK without resentment. But, we missed the golden oppurtunity. They say oppurtunity knocks the door once. That was the moment it knowcked. But we didn't recognise it. What becasue of her/or whoever advised her's short-sightedness.

- Murali