OROP: A humble message for the Indian Public and the Media

The continuation of protest by the Military Veterans, even after the 5^th 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 5^th 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.