Over the last few decades, I stay glued to the television on India’s Republic Day -January 26- to see the parade. This year too I look forward to the parade. Most of all I am waiting to see and pay homage to the three surviving winners of the Param Vir Chakra. This honour is India’s highest military honour and is like the Victoria Cross in the UK or the Medal of Honour in the United States. The memory of the Param Vir Chakra winners was triggered by a book I read recently. It is called, “The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories” by Rachna Bisht Rawat. She is a journalist and writer with a family background steeped in military history.
This book was one of the early books about the Param Vir Chakra winners. It was first published by Penguin in 2014. Since then there have been many more books on these national heroes. Since I am fascinated by these stories this book was of considerable interest to me. Thanks to the internet and the media, in recent years many of them have become household names, like Capt Vikram Batra of Kargil War fame. However, to be honest, I am ashamed to say that some of the early winners of the Param Vir Chakra were unknown to many in my generation. One of them was Major Rama Raghoba Rane of the Bombay Sappers who got his PVC in the Indo-Pak Kashmir War in 1947. He was one of the rare braves who lived to receive his award. Most of the Param Vir Chakras were awarded posthumously. This means the winners of the nation’s highest gallantry award made the supreme sacrifice while carrying out their acts of bravery.
All the winners were worthy of the high honour bestowed upon them by a grateful nation. It would be unfair to single out one or the other from amongst them. However, we are humans and cannot resist having our favourites. Mine have been Major Shaitan Singh of 13 Kumaon of Rezang La fame during the Indo-China War of 1962 and 2nd Lt Arun Khetarpal of 17 Horse, who won his award in the Indo-Pak war of 1971. Mention must be made of Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, 18 Squadron, IAF, who won his PVC during the Indo-Pak War of 1965. Till date, he remains the only Param Vir Chakra awardee who was not from the Indian Army.
Ms Rawat has written about the battles in which the heroes won their awards and about these men themselves. Their stories have been pieced together following interviews with family, colleagues, superior officers and others who could speak authoritatively about their feats and about themselves as persons. Overall, it was well written as it focussed as much on the human element of the awardee as it did on their feats of incredible bravery facing all odds.
These errors may have been corrected in subsequent editions but the Kindle version of the book I read had two which were unexpected. It is stated that “Nehru appointed Lt Gen B M Kaul as Chief of Army Staff in 1961”. Gen. Kaul was undoubtedly his favourite and perhaps informally overshadowed the then Chief of Army Staff, General P N Thapar but he was never the Chief of Army Staff. It also refers to the late Capt Saurabh Kalia of 4 th Battalion, Jat Regiment , as Major Kalia. Capt Kalia, you may recall, was perhaps the first casualty of the Kargil War. He was cruelly tortured by the enemy. I am not aware of his promotion to Major nor could I find this substantiated anywhere. These are minor glitches in what’s otherwise a good read. I wish more of our youth read this book to be inspired by these heroes.
And yes, please do watch the Republic Day Parade on January 26 to salute the surviving three Param Vir Chakra winners: Sub Major (Hon. Capt) Bana Singh, 8 J & K Light Infantry; Subedar Major(Hon. Capt) Yogendra Singh Yadav, 18 Grenadiers; and Subedar Major (Hon. Capt) Sanjay Kumar., 13 JAK Rifles. Jai Hind!
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