The continuation of protest by the Military Veterans, even
after the 5th September announcement made by the revered Defence
Minister, has certainly alienated most of you from our cause.
I, too, am a veteran who retired as a Colonel after serving
28 years in the Indian Army. As regards my demand related to OROP, there is basically
a single one. I simply wish to get a pension that is never lower than that of another
Colonel, junior to me while serving in the Army and retiring now (or anytime in
the future) with the same 28 years of service. Do you consider this too much to
ask for? I am in no doubt that you all had agreed that this was a valid point
when the OROP issue came to the fore. You decided to support the cause and were
just as happy when the response to my yearning came out as a sacred promise
from the sanctified premises of our country’s Parliament on a number of
occasions.
Most of you now feel, and obviously so, that the 5th
September announcement by the Defence Minister totally fulfilled the above promise and
henceforth, no veteran will ever get a pension lesser than a junior veteran of
the same rank with the same length of service. On the other hand, a bulk of us veterans
somehow suspected—for various reasons, mostly attributable to unscrupulous
elements in the Government machinery—that this lone promise may not be consummated
when the Government Notification is finally issued.
Frankly, we sincerely want
to be proved wrong as the Government is capable of fulfilling the sacred
promise. In fact, if and when they really do this, we, the Veterans would be
the happiest of the lot. And if that happens, I would want to be the first one
to apologize to all of you, also believing that the entire veteran brethren
would certainly follow suit.
But in case it does not happen the way you and we expect it
to happen, may I request you all to appreciate our stand and be with us all the
time for the sake of our cause?
Let us, therefore, wait for that
‘all important Government Notification’ to be issued which we truthfully hope to
bring us justice and prove our apprehensions misplaced. Please trust that we veterans,
as disciplined soldiers of this country, will not take even an additional
minute to thank the Government, the Public at large and the Media. Until then
please be as supportive as you have been to us heretofore.
