Naib Subedar Bana Singh may have reclaimed a post from Pakistani soldiers in a near suicidal assault — braving minus 20 degrees in Siachen glacier in 1986 at height of more than 20,000 feet — but this Paramvir Chakra winner is a nobody amongst the high and mighty of Delhi.
Present as the guest of honour for the customary At-Home function at Army Chief General Bikram Singh’s residence on the occasion of Army Day on January 15, Bana Singh, now retired, wanted to meet Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah but could not negotiate the security cordon.
Abdullah was sitting along with Defence Minister AK Antony and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in an enclosure earmarked for VIPs including the President and the Prime Minister. The tight security net of the Delhi Police and Special Protection Group(SPG) proved to be an obstacle for this short-stature veteran wearing his Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry uniform.
He tried to explain to the security men that Abdullah was his Chief Minister till some years back and as a Paramvir Chakra winner he wants to salute the leader. Bana also showed his medals but of no avail though a serving Army officer also tried to reason with the security officials on behalf of the old soldier.
Unable to work his way round the cordon, Bana, who along with his men scaled a sheer ice wall to attack the Pakistanis in Siachen and later the post was named after him, walked back to his seat dejectedly. After some time, the hero mustered courage again and walked up to the dais and managed to catch Abdullah’s eye and saluted him.
Realising the futility of trying to convince the security officials to allow Bana to come to him, Abdullah stepped out of the enclosure and hugged the soldier. Former Army Chief General(retired) Shankar Roychowdhury met the same fate when he tried to walk up to Antony. Seeing him politely arguing with security men, Antony remarked loudly “please, you do not come to me. I will come to you” and then stepped down from the dais to shake hands with the former Chief.
Several journalists, including this reporter, were witness to the treatment meted out to one of our national heroes like Bana Singh. It is in stark contrast to the respect shown to war veterans in some other countries like UK. Havildar Umrao Singh, who was awarded Victoria Cross for killing scores of Japanese soldiers with an iron rod in a hand to hand fight during the Burma front campaign during World War two, regularly used to be invited to London as a veteran to take part in celebrations every year to mark victory over Germany.
An old man then in his 80s, Umrao was crossing a street to reach the venue in 1995 when the cavalcade carrying the British Royal family stopped to give way to him as a mark of respect. In fact, some members of the Royal family stepped out of their cars despite heavy security and saluted the old soldier. Umrao, hailing from Jhajjar in Haryana died in 2005.
Bana Singh along with another Paramvir Chakra awardee Yogendra Yadav, who carried out daring actions against Pakistan Army during the 1999 Kargil war and some other gallantry medal winters were invited for the At-Home. President Pranab Mukherjee came to their enclosure and shook hands with them. Rahul Datta n New Delhi Naib Subedar Bana Singh may have reclaimed a post from Pakistani soldiers in a near suicidal assault — braving minus 20 degrees in Siachen glacier in 1986 at height of more than 20,000 feet — but this Paramvir Chakra winner is a nobody amongst the high and mighty of Delhi.
Present as the guest of honour for the customary At-Home function at Army Chief General Bikram Singh’s residence on the occasion of Army Day on January 15, Bana Singh, now retired, wanted to meet Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah but could not negotiate the security cordon.
Abdullah was sitting along with Defence Minister AK Antony and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in an enclosure earmarked for VIPs including the President and the Prime Minister. The tight security net of the Delhi Police and Special Protection Group(SPG) proved to be an obstacle for this short-stature veteran wearing his Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry uniform.
He tried to explain to the security men that Abdullah was his Chief Minister till some years back and as a Paramvir Chakra winner he wants to salute the leader. Bana also showed his medals but of no avail though a serving Army officer also tried to reason with the security officials on behalf of the old soldier.
Unable to work his way round the cordon, Bana, who along with his men scaled a sheer ice wall to attack the Pakistanis in Siachen and later the post was named after him, walked back to his seat dejectedly. After some time, the hero mustered courage again and walked up to the dais and managed to catch Abdullah’s eye and saluted him.
Realising the futility of trying to convince the security officials to allow Bana to come to him, Abdullah stepped out of the enclosure and hugged the soldier. Former Army Chief General(retired) Shankar Roychowdhury met the same fate when he tried to walk up to Antony.
Seeing him politely arguing with security men, Antony remarked loudly “please, you do not come to me. I will come to you” and then stepped down from the dais to shake hands with the former Chief.
Several journalists, including this reporter, were witness to the treatment meted out to one of our national heroes like Bana Singh. It is in stark contrast to the respect shown to war veterans in some other countries like UK. Havildar Umrao Singh, who was awarded Victoria Cross for killing scores of Japanese soldiers with an iron rod in a hand to hand fight during the Burma front campaign during World War two, regularly used to be invited to London as a veteran to take part in celebrations every year to mark victory over Germany.
An old man then in his 80s, Umrao was crossing a street to reach the venue in 1995 when the cavalcade carrying the British Royal family stopped to give way to him as a mark of respect. In fact, some members of the Royal family stepped out of their cars despite heavy security and saluted the old soldier. Umrao, hailing from Jhajjar in Haryana died in 2005.
Bana Singh along with another Paramvir Chakra awardee Yogendra Yadav, who carried out daring actions against Pakistan Army during the 1999 Kargil war and some other gallantry medal winters were invited for the At-Home. President Pranab Mukherjee came to their enclosure and shook hands with them.
via The Pioneer ,
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