Vande Mataram!!!

Just heard a speech by an army officer at a business school. He said a very interesting thing. He said everybody praises Indian army how they fight so valiantly. But how many of us actually can place Kargil, Siachin on the map of India? Many Indian kids would point out European cities but they wont be able to tell these places where our soldiers die almost every day.

How true it is. Our kids back home are a brilliant lot; MNCs pick them up. Their knowledge of the world is amazing but how many of them know what a soldier goes through. That officer also talked about how a Muslim commanding officer leads a Hindu regiment, how a christian commanding officers talks in clipped Haryanvi to his jaat regiment. A soldier doesn’t care what his religion or his commanding officer’s is. He fights to defend his country.

As an army officer’s wife I experienced this. A Muslim commanding officer leading the ‘mandir parade’, the whole unit celebrating ‘Diwali’ and eating ‘Sewai’ on Eid. But then the soldiers come back and the casteism, religion and ten other dividing factors bombard them. Political leaders have their own agenda. They use people as vote banks and try to appease one section of society. The parties in the opposition suddenly become most patriotic once out of power. The stronger the ruling party, the stronger the protests by the opposition. The worst part is that they use students for creating these divisive factions.

The youth are a vulnerable section. They are idealists and they really want to b ring a change. But when manipulated by vested interests, they become mere puppets in this political game.

It is true that we don’t have to wear our patriotism on our sleeve but at the same time giving extreme statements about one’s own country just to get a little more coverage on the news channel is also a shameful act. Especially,  if it is done by a leader.

The youth are the leaders of tomorrow and by leadership I don’t mean political, but leaders in taking India further on the road to prosperity. They have to understand; in fact whole public today has to understand that the beauty of our country lies in the diversity. Let no one spoil that. Our ‘Ganga-Jamuni’ tehzib has been there for centuries. And no one, and I insist, no one has the right to insult our motherland.

Let it be clear to all and sundry. India was one and will remain one. Jai Hind

So be it!!!