The country has fought many wars in the past but victory in Kargil war on July 26, 1999, is special one as our soldiers fought it from a very disadvantageous position and came out victorious. The Kargil victory is important in one another aspect that it was the war in which not even a single inch of our land was ceded away to the enemy and India registered both military and diplomatic victories.
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat, made these observations while addressing a programme organised on the occasion of Shourya Diwas (Kargil Victory Day) at Gandhi Park here on Wednesday.
“In every war our brave soldiers had always emerged out victorious but unfortunately we use to lose on table (talks) but Kargil was an exception. The Kargil victory has become an example of modern day warfare,’’ he said.
Paying glowing tributes to the martyrs who ensured victory to the country even when the odds were heavily placed against them the Chief Minister said the nation was indebted to them. He said that respect for the brave was the rich and long tradition in our country.
On the occasion, Rawat remembered visionary and strong leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said that Vajpayee understood the pain of the families of the martyrs and directed that bodies of the dead soldiers should reach to the place where their families reside.
The Chief Minister presented the mementoes to the family members of the martyrs and war heroes on the occasion. He also laid flora wreath at the martyr memorial to pay homage to those who laid down their lives for the country.
The BJP leader and Mussoorie MlA Ganesh Joshi congratulated the Chief Minister for taking many measures for welfare of ex servicemen. He also demanded that the pension of the war widows of World War II should be increased from Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000. Joshi also said the State Government should increase the ex -gratia amount given by to the martyrs from present Rs 10 lakh to 15 lakhs.
The students of the Bhatkhande Sangeet School paid tributes to the soldiers by presenting patriotic songs on the occasion.
The Mayor of Dehradun and Dharampur MlA Vinod Chamoli, Rajpur MlA Khajan Das, Saurabh Bahuguna, lieutenant General TPS Rawat (Rtd), lt Gen O P Kaushik (Rtd), Managing Director (MD) of Uttarakhand Purva sainik kalyan Nigam limited (UPNl) Brigadier PPS Pahwa (Rtd), Director Sainik Kalyan Brigadier Chand, President of Uttarakhand Ex Services league Brigadier R S Rawat, large number of ex servicemen, families of serving and retired soldiers and National Cadet Corps (NCC) were present on the occasion despite bad weather and rainfall.