Today
August 15th celebrated as 68th year of Indian Independence
Day, so I thought so surfing the real life stories of brave Indian soldiers, I read
an article of brave soldier, Jaswant Singh Rawat who was bestowed with Maha Vir
Chakra.
Who
was he….??? Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat was a hero of 1962 Indo-China war, he
was serving for 4th Battalion of Garhwal Rifles (well known combact
arm of Indian Army). It was November 1962, Chinese army were invading in huge
number through Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh and Garhwal Rifles were
asked to return back but Jaswant Singh and two other soldiers (the two soldiers
were later wounded by Chinese firing, when they were crawling back to the
Indian post) remained at the post at an altitude of 10,000 and were successful
in capturing MMG (medium machine gun) from Chinese and somehow dragged to the Indian
post and this was the turning point of the battle as Jaswant Singh alone resisted
the Chinese soldiers entering the Indian borders for 3 days with the help of
two local girls named Sela and Nura, helping Jaswant Singh in refilling the
ammunitions and it is believed that he shot 300 Chinese soldiers, who were
trying to invade India. Chinese adopted a strategy to cut down the rations
getting supplied to the Indian Battalion so that Indian soldiers get tired and
it would be easy for them to invade.
They
tracked down a person who was supplying ration to an Indian army and he was
asked “how many soldiers are there in the battalion” and the ration supplier
told “it was only one brave soldier Jaswant Singh” listening to this the Chinese
were shocked thinking that only one soldier resisting the strong force of 300
plus Chinese soldiers entering Indian boarder from past three days.
This
humiliated Chinese and decided to knock down Rifleman Jaswant Singh and with much
humiliation they approached to the Indian post with grenade attacks which
killed a local girl Sela and they captured Nura and before they can nab the
brave soldier Jaswant Singh, Jaswant Singh decided to kill himself like
Chandrashekar Azad, he took his last cartridge and loaded it and shot into his
head.
But
Chinese were not happy with Jaswant’s decision of sacrificing his life for
motherland so with the great humiliation feeling which they had, made them to chop
off the head off Jaswant Singh and took across the border (Land of China).
After ceasefire, Chinese commander was so impressed with the bravery of the Indian
soldier that, he returned back the chopped head of Jaswant Singh along with brass
bust of his (statue of Jaswant Singh). Even today we can see the brass bust installed
at the battle site.
The saga of Jaswant Singh continues
as Ghost to local people and Saint for military people:
If
you visit Tawang District of Arunachal Pradesh via Sela Pass (which is world’s
second highest motor-able road), you must visit to the Temple built in the name
of Jaswant Singh known as “Jaswant Garh”. The shrine of Jaswant Singh has been a
witness to many tales and also inspiration to military soldiers. For military
persons Jaswant Singh has become ‘Saint’ or ‘Jaswant Baba’ and some local
people call him as a Ghost. Every morning Jaswant Singh is served with bed tea
at 4:30 am, breakfast at 9am and dinner at 7pm and five army soldiers are at
his service round the clock. Though the fact is that Jaswant Singh is no more
but still there is astha (strong belief) among Garhwal Rifles that Jaswant Singh
soul protects them at treacherous mountain terrain.
Army
Generals passing by this route make sure that they take blessings of Jaswant
Singh brass bust at Jaswant Garh, if they did not do so they will get a curse,
it was told by Garhwal battalion soldier. And one day, a major general refused
to pay tribute to Jaswant Singh’s shrine saying that it was just a
superstitious belief and within few distance of his travel he met with a
mysterious road accident and died.
At
Jaswant Garh there is separate cook who prepares food for Jaswant Singh, makes
his bed, iron his clothes and polishes his booth every day & doors of the
shrine is closed in the night. And in the morning his bed is found crumpled and
his freshly ironed clothes lie crushed on the floor and his shoes are found soiled
& dirty. Army soldiers who are sleeping on night duty get a sense of beating
from stick and they believe its Jaswant Singh who remind of their duty.
According
to the locals and Garhwal soldiers say that, his spirit roams around the area
and comes in the dreams and solve their problems. Even today Jaswant Singh is
getting promotions and his promotions have reached to the rank of Honorary
Captain.
He
is there on those terrains protecting Indian Army from Chinese invaders and has
become source of inspiration to Garhwal Battalions and people of Arunachal
Pradesh.
Salute
to Jaswant Singh Rawat….Salute to Indian Army..
Jai
Ho…!!!!!!
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