The love and support of a thankful nation defeated the hateful campaign of anti nationals

Major Leetul Gogoi stormed into national consciousness on 9th April. A video that went viral saw a stone pelter tied to the bonnet of an army jeep. Major Gogoi was seen as the mastermind behind that decision.

Stone pelting has in the recent times become a lucrative business in the valley. Our armed forces and policemen have been at the receiving end of these stone pelters for quite some time. Unfortunately, the plight of our security men has rarely evoked sympathy from our intellectuals, liberals and Mainstream media. These elements, while championing the cause of banning pellet guns, have maintained silence on the difficult situation that our armed forces regularly find themselves in. No wonder that these elements now rushed to demand Gogoi’s scalp.

From calling it a violation of human rights, to describing Gogoi’s actions as reasons why Kashmiris feel alienated, a whole plethora of articles and sound bytes flooded the market, blaming Gogoi for having caused irreparable damage. Politicians, always on the lookout for a potential votebank, chipped in with their dire warnings and government bashing.

While there were many who hailed Major Gogoi ‘s actions but on the whole, it looked that Gogoi’s days in the Armed forces were numbered.

A couple of days later, another video went viral. This video showed the context in which Major Gogoi and his team operate. A stone pelting mob of 400 people had cornered a few soldiers and policemen. A Quick reaction team was assembled to rescue these men who were otherwise sure to be lynched by the bloodthirsty mob. Given the enormity of the challenge, the armed forces could have let loose a volley of bullets into the mob to disperse it, leading to casualties and further aggravation of emotions.

It was Major Gogoi who displayed clarity of thought in hostile circumstances, seized a stone pelter and tied him to the bonnet of the jeep leading the army cavalcade. Stunned, perhaps by the army’s response and afraid to injure one of their own, the mob allowed the army cavalcade to pass through unmolested. Given the adverse conditions in which the Army team had to operate, Major Gogoi displayed a remarkable levelheadedness and sang froid in managing the situation without any casualty. The artifical outrage orchestrated by Media and intellectuals vanished as soon as it had emerged, with masses hailing Major Gogoi’s actions as decisive and fruitful.

It has now emerged that Major Gogoi has been awarded the ‘Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation card for sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations’. One would have hoped that now with conclusive evidence available, our intellectuals, liberals and Mainstream media would join the rest of the nation in applauding the courage of Major Gogoi. Sadly, once again they have chosen to huff and puff with a sense of false outrage.

Opposition politicians have joined the bandwagon on what is purely an internal matter of the army. It appears that a sinister attempt is underway to embroil the armed forces in the ongoing political debates in the country and effectively hamstring them from taking decisive actions. It also seems that the Media is out to make a villain out of our soldiers and armed forces. Incidentally, the award is not for Major Gogoi’s actions on that day but for his efforts in the ‘counter-insurgency operations’. There is already an enquiry underway to assess whether Major Gogoi’s actions were correct.

India has a terrible record of letting down people who act in India’s best interests. Be it the armed forces or the bureaucracy, innovation is shunned and adherence to processes and rules, even if it ends up strengthening the red tape and hindering action, is implicitly encouraged. In the past policy paralysis has encouraged status quo, resulting in a never ending downward spiral. In such an environment, individuals choose not to take daring, high impact steps for the fear of being politically incorrect.

Fortunately, in Major Gogoi’s case, India has united like never before in praising his actions. Defence Minister Arun Jaitley was quick to salute the actions of Major Gogoi at the time when the Media was baying for his blood. This, along with popular support will go a long way in encouraging security personnel on the field to take innovative steps to defuse crises with minimal collateral damage.

As for those who are crying themselves hoarse about Human rights and alienation of Kashmiris, it would be better if they were exposed to the ferocity of the stone pelters’ stones, rather than our armed forces. The likes of Arundhati Roy should indeed be left to face the stones and projectiles hurled by Kashmiri militants.

Each stone flung at our security forces is aimed at the idea of an inclusive, multi-cultural India and seeks to replace it with an Islamic caliphate in Kashmir.

Our activists need only look at the plight of their brethren in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other places to guess their fate if militants’ designs were to succeed. If for nothing else, they should support India and its Armed forces for petty, selfish motives.