State funeral for the reel heroes but not for the real heroes : What an irony

State funeral for the reel heroes but not for the real heroes : What an irony

We in India have always lived with the hard reality that not withstanding the proclamation by the constitution of India, which says “all are equal”, we know there is an unwritten suffix to this dictum “some are more equal”. This unwritten, reprehensible system was followed by the Government of Karnataka and its CM depriving the truly deserving state funeral for VrC. Col. Ravindranath the Kargil Hero, whose mortals remains were laid to rest recently at his ancestral village.

This unwritten “some are more equal”, dictum is almost always for the Reel heroes, which includes not just the cine artistes but also the high and mighty including the politicians, who are treated more equal than the rest of us. While, we the lesser mortals, the common people in India, have resigned to this hard reality, what is more shocking though is, that even the real heroes are differentiated when compared to the reel heroes. Sridevi, the reel hero, and so also Gauri Lankesh, both of whom died an untimely death were accorded the state funerals by their respective governments Maharashtra and Karnataka, God bless the two and so also their governments, which accorded them the state funerals. But the real hero Col. Ravindranath, Vir Chakra, and the Kargil hero, under whose leadership the Tololing was captured while many of his men gave the supreme sacrifice, was denied the truly deserving state funeral honour by his own government. Is it not the time for us to raise our voice in unison against such gross misdemeanour by the Government of Karnataka and its chief minister who had no time even to heed to the appeals of the ex service men from Bangalore and an MP who made a fervent plea to him to accord state funeral to the man who led his men to safeguard the nations integrity even at the peril of his men.

The mortal remains of the immortal soldier, VrC Col. Ravindranath, who, honestly and faithfully served the Indian Army and his motherland and in true allegiance to the indomitable spirit of the Army, went wherever ordered, leading his men to scale at night, the near vertical, most treacherous of hills facing the enemy, strategically and deceitfully entrenched atop the peaks that rightfully belong to us, to conquer the Tololing hill and to change the very nature of the Kargil war from certain defeat to major conquests for the nation, was buried and laid to rest, on Monday, following the traditional rituals of the Lingayat community to which he belonged.

It was this very Kargil Hero, Col Ravindranath, who had successfully planned and led his men, including a night-blind carpenter Uttam Singh who lugged ammunition, trekking every night for eight hours, catching the coat tail of the soldier in front of him, to move 15 tons of ammunition in the most treacherous of terrains, very close to the enemy, to build up the assaulting troops. The success of the battalion relied on the exceptional leadership of their leader, Col Ravindranath, whose constant motivation and instilling the pride for the nation could lead to his battalion achieving the near impossible feat of conquering the Tololing peak and hoisting the tricolour on its top. Ravindranath and his men had launched the most ferocious and determined attack on an enemy holding strategic high ground with exemplary valour,grit. In doing so, Col Ravindranath was witness to great privation, faced adverse physical and professional challenges and had to risk his men, junior leaders and officers of 2 RAJRIF, who after a night-long operation, were able to wrest Tololing Top from the enemy to hoist the tricolour atop the hill. Unfortunately, at a irreplaceable cost with 11 dead besides 92 injured.

With the lowering of his mortal remains in a specially created trench in the precincts of the family owned rice mill of the Magod family, to which Col Ravindranath belonged, in the village of Holesiregere in the state of Karnataka, the deafening sounds of long live Ravindranath rented the air with hundreds of thousands of moist eyes paying homage and respect to their brave soldier, looking on as their very own son of the soil was soon to be consumed by the very sacred land where he was born to lead a life par exemplary in service of the motherland to which the land he was born belonged to. Scores of Ajeets including the Principal of the Sainik School Bijapur were present to pay their respect to the departed soldier, a hero and role model to every Ajeets.

The least the government of Karnataka could do to pay their respects was to send a representative of the government and to accord him the truly deserving state funeral which did not happen. It was not very long ago that this very government of Karnataka had accorded state funeral to a journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead at point-blank range at her home. The police had also given a gun salute to Ms Lankesh. I am not in any way taking away the contributions, if any, of the lady journalist who had the temerity to express her opinion on the so called growing intolerance. But then what is most shocking is that when the government could extend a state funeral to Ms Gauri Lankesh why not for Col Ravindranath. Several ex servicemen and so also a sitting MP had appealed to the Chief Minister to accord state funeral, which went in vain and fell on the dear ears of the Hon. CM. What is more shocking is that there was none to represent the state. This very government including the CM and several ministers had lined up for the funeral of the journalist while they did not feel it worthy to be present during the funeral of the Kargil hero. No matter whether the state recognised his services or not the nation owes its debt to the likes of Col Ravindranath who sacrifice their today for our tomorrow. Long live Col Ravindranath. Amar Rahe Amar Rahe. Jai Hind.