THE OROP AGITATION – WHERE ARE THE COMMUNICATIONS?

THE OROP AGITATION – WHERE ARE THE COMMUNICATIONS?

On 27 July 2017, I went to Jantar Mantar along with some of my colleagues.  That day, 35^th and 36^th courses which were commissioned in 1965 both handed over cheques as their contribution towards the OROP agitation being coordinated by the UFESM. The couple of hours I spent at the venue more probably the most painful in my life. There were almost a hundred veterans and I could see that all of them had similar expressions of distress. All of them were around 70 years old or more and most had served in the Army for 35-40 years. Almost everyone had fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars and some had been wounded or disabled. There were several with gallantry awards on their chests. Did we ever imagine that we would one day have to come on the street, begging the Government for our dues? All our lives, we had believed that we were the elite, the class looked up to by everyone else, the people the country’s citizens trusted and respected, the ones they turned to in their hour of need. Today, suddenly, that dream was shattered.

There were four or five other demonstrations and hunger strikes going on at Jantar Mantar. Everyone had powerful loudspeakers and one could hear several voices at the same time. There were a few OB vans of TV channels but none was covering the OROP event. Apart from the veterans and their families, there was no one from the common public at our venue. Why this apathy, I wondered? In India, a crowd collects even when two people start arguing loudly on the road after someone’s car scrapes a two wheeler. But there were no curious onlookers at our agitation. Obviously, the common man is not interested in OROP. In all likelihood, he does not know what it stands for. The speakers from our dais were speaking forcefully, but the only ones hearing them were veterans sitting in front of them. I saw a couple of other venues where there were some politicians present. There were large crowds around them and TV cameras recording their speeches. I was told that politicians were not allowed to come and speak at the OROP venue.

It then struck me that we had overlooked the basic ingredient of any operation – communications. One may be commanding a division or a corps, but his voice will reach only his staff officer standing or sitting across the table. If the commander wantshis voice to reach every man under his command, he has to have signal communications. In the Army, in our time we had radio, radio relay and lines. Today, there are several other means. To make our voices reach the general public and the government, we must use the communications available – TV, newspapers and political channels.  Just imagine, if someone like Rahul Gandhi, Mamta Banerjee or Jayalalitha were to come to Jantar Mantar and publicly support the cause of OROP, how many TV and newspaper journalists would be there to cover the event?

The three organs of a State are the executive, judiciary and legislature. We have to exert pressure on one of them (executive). We are already tackling the courts. The RDOA has already a magnificent job, getting favourable judgments from the Supreme Court. Several individual officers have also approached the courts and got relief. What we have to concentrateon now is the third organ, the Parliament. We need to convince some of the major political parties that the demand of OROP is justified. It would be of immense help if they can raise the issue and Parliament and exert pressure on the Government to keep its promise and sanction OROP without further delay.

Maj Gen VK Singh, veteran

28 Jul 2017