[Music]
it's indeed heartening to be talking to
some scintillating minds of Jamnagar a
city which was earlier known as neva
Nagar noir in Gujarati means new and
this word new resonates very well with
TEDx which believes in spreading new
ideas new you points and new information
but in today's media driven world there
is a deluge of information and one has
to really sift through large amount of
information to get some useful
information which is called knowledge
and a very very important branch of
knowledge is history and as responsible
and concerned citizens of the country we
ought to have knowledge about the
history of our nation as history defines
our identity as a nation and it
attributes credibility to the status of
a country in the world and an intrinsic
part of this history is the military
history India is the land of Ramayana
and Mahabharata the great epics which
are essentially military conflicts and
the results the lessons of these
military conflicts are relevant even
today so right from Vedic times India's
history has been influenced by various
military wars and operations and even in
the modern Proust independence era
India's history has been shaped by
various military operations take the
case of operation polo which was
launched in September 1948 against the
ten state of Hyderabad
after independence when the state of
Hyderabad the biggest and the most
prosperous state that time refused to
join the union of India and all peaceful
negotiations failed a military operation
called Operation polo was launched on 13
September 1948 it was so called because
the state of Hyderabad that time had 17
polo grounds the highest number in any
state or 36 thousand soldiers
participated in that operation and the
operation lasting barely five days came
to an end on 18 September 1948 when the
forces of the state of Hyderabad
surrendered and Hyderabad became a part
of India so operation polo was a
military operation but it changed the
course of history of a country or take
another case of another operation called
Operation Vijay which was launched in
December 1961 against the Portuguese
rule in Goa Daman and eve when all
peaceful methods did not yield any
result a military operation called
Operation Vijay was launched on 18th
December 1961 this was independent
India's first integrated tri-service
operation launched by Indian Army Navy
and the Air Force and in two days flat
450 years of Portuguese rule came to an
end and Goa Daman and Eve became an
inseparable part of India and India's
map in the history changed forever
similarly the Wars of 1947 48 1960 to
1965 1971 and the Kargil war of 1999
have greatly influenced the history of a
nation so military history is an
integral part of our nation's history
and it is not meant only for military
people but for every citizen every
citizen has to know it understand it and
derive lessons from it to play his or
her role as an informed citizen
one may still ask why let me explain
India's post-independence military
history has been created by many many
gallant soldiers of around forces and
over 26,000 of them have sacrificed
their lives and become spirit and soul
of this military history and that it's
so without caring for the own safety
that it's so without thinking about the
near and dear ones they did so without
expecting anything in return from the
country they were defending they were
that beat ohm of selflessness if you
consider a military history as a
portrait they are the light source
they shine on the portrait to show it to
the world in its full glory but never
expecting than anybody would ever notice
them out of over 26,000 martyrs who have
sacrificed their life less than 3,000
have received gallantry awards but every
soldier was a gallant soldier and every
sacrifice has equal importance due to
the complex nature of wars and
operations not many soldiers got the
opportunity to show their bravery and in
some cases there was no survivor in the
battle to speak about the gallantry and
in some other cases they bravely came to
be known much later like in the case of
squad leader a B they were here from
Mysore a 1965 war hero who was awarded
Maha Vir Chakra 23 years after his
martyrdom in 1988 based on the evidence
that emerged later so there are many
incredible stories of courage tear
devilry and commitment shown by these
valiant valiant gallantry award winners
and they are truly awe-inspiring but
there are many others which did not get
the recognition they truly deserve due
to various reasons let me share some of
these stories which are not very well
known but they are true and fascinating
first let me share the story of left
Colonel Ramon and Awasthi who was
martyred during the 1962 Indochina war
at that time colonel our steel was
commanding the 4th battalion of the
Rajput regiment and was deployed in
nayfeh north eastern frontier agency the
present-day
arunachal pradesh and on 23rd November
1962 colonel OST along with his two
hundred odd soldiers was moving to
Laguna gompa I put this monastery
located on a mountaintop overlooking
moshing Valley after seven hours of
arduous and tiring trek when they
reached a plateau on the way to the
Buddhist monastery they were attacked by
all 500 Chinese soldiers who are
monitoring their movement and were
waiting to ambush them canal OST and his
soldiers were totally outgunned
outnumbered and outmaneuvered
but the exceptional courage and fighting
spirit were enough to unnerve the
Chinese the soldiers demonstrated
fearlessness beyond anything even
conceivable under the inspiring
leadership of Canelo esteem it was a
heroic battle but with the bitter end
colonel OST and all his soldiers were
martyred there was no survivor no
witness to speak about the gallantry
except a one local shepherd boy who
later on became head Lama of that
monastery the Chinese the Gamez grave
leaving behind a flattened tin sheet
with officers names inscribed on it
Canella Westies was body was later
recovered with a blood-stained letter
written to his wife in his hand
colonel OST
is revered by locals even today and is
remembered as Tiger Sahib who fought
like a tiger with the Chinese today a
war memorial stands there where as per
the last wish of his wife mrs. Susheela
OST her ashes were sprinkled when she
died
forty-nine years after her husband had
scripted an incredible story of
gallantry let me share another story of
last night laka Singh who was martyred
in the year 1965 during the Battle of
pierpass the capture of
pierpass eight kilometers inside the
Seas for lying was India's first and
biggest surgical strike way back in 1965
Indian Army had planned to attack and
occupy pierpass when it became one
of the main infiltration routes to spark
insurgency in Kashmir pierpass was
flanked by two regions one on the
eastern side and other on the western
side and the plan was to attack and
occupy the ridges first that is the
shoulders of the past first and then
attack the pass itself nineteen punjab
battalion was given the responsibility
to capture the eastern ridge so during
the battle of eastern rich the Charlie
Company of the nineteen punjab battalion
was given the responsibility to capture
an important feature called point eight
seven seven seven so during this battery
for point a triple 7 last night laka
Singh from Charlie Company ran out of
his ammunition but undeterred he used
his Bennett the steel dagger attached to
the rifle to kill enemy soldiers and
even when that broke it took off his
helmet and started knocking a man out
looking at the Prairie of this young
soldier the Pakistani major was
defending the post gave orders to his
soldiers not to shoot this brave young
man but his orders were lost in the din
of the boy was shot
this true story was told by major Rizvi
of Pakistan army to Indian authorities
during the exchange of bodies after the
war so that was last night
laka Singh indeed an indomitable warrior
let me share another story of battle of
Nagi fought during December 1971 Nagi is
a small border village in Sri Ganga
nagar district of Rajasthan although the
war of 1971 ended on 16 December when
General Niazi
surrendered along with his 93 thousand
soldiers and the ceasefire came into
effect on 17 December 1971 the Pakistani
forces went ahead and occupied a high
sand dune in the village Nagi as a
prelude to coming further into Indian
Territory this was a dangerous situation
forthe parapet Island along with the
support of artillery and engineering
company was given the task to chase away
these Pakistani forces
it was a very very difficult task the
attack was launched on 17 December 1971
ten days after the ceasefire had come
into effect it was a bloody battle forth
parapet island faced very very stiff
resistance and there were many
casualties but the soldiers fought like
men possessed with exceptional grit and
determination and eventually the Indian
flag was hosted on 18th December 1971
and Nagi was saved a total of 21
soldiers sacrificed their lives
including three brave officers major a
canal major Singh and second Latin
double-a Nagi
war memorial stands there today which is
revered by the locals and people of
Rajasthan who consider these soldiers as
saviors of Nagi so there are many many
incredible stories of military heroism
that have fallen through the cracks and
gone into oblivion
but these stories remind us that apart
from very well-known stories of courage
determination sacrifice
there are hundreds more that form part
of our military history and these are
not only true and fascinating stories
they are a treasure trove of knowledge
that needs to be studied analyzed and
learned from by the youth of this
country there are many well-known big
landmarks in the country like airports
towns and cities in the name of warrior
kings and princes of ancient times who
fought for the own kingdoms and not for
india as we know it today but there are
no landmarks worth mentioning that
befits the stature of the fallen heroes
of our armed forces were given their
lives to protect the honor of a
tricolour therefore it's time now to
acknowledge the contribution of these
fallen heroes it's time now to
throw light on these light sources that
shine on the portrait of our military
history it's time now to know more about
them and the legacy they have left
behind it's time now to read the
glorious pages they have added to the
history of our country
please remember military matters are not
exclusive preserve of few generals
bureaucrats or politicians this subject
concerns every one of us
future Wars may differ in size and
complexity but they will continue to be
there as long as fear greed on our
hatred and selfish interests continue to
drive relationships between countries
and people the possibility of war will
always be there and war is a very very
serious business the nation and all of
us could end up paying very heavily due
to mistakes of few decision makers
therefore the widespread study and
understanding of military history is
Whitely to avoid such aberrations
there's a need for all of us to become
informed citizens and have a public
opinion that matters because in today's
social media and TV media driven world
public opinion is very very powerful and
can influence any government decision so
in the spirit of our Constitution which
is of the people for the people by the
people we the people have a
responsibility to play our role as
informed citizens and the government of
the day in governing and guiding us onto
a path that is not only trailblazing but
leads us to a position where we can call
India our India the greatest nation in
this world
thank you
[Applause]