Obama pays glowing tribute to Sam Manekshaw

Where were Vajpayee, Advani, Rajnath and other VHP and RSS leaders, then? Why were they not at the funeral of Field Marshall Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw?It is because they were ashamed to face the jawans, the family, the relatives and those from the Congress party. And the reason is that they knew that they had harangued and poked fun at Indira Gandhi at that time instead of supporting her. Moreover this was at a very tense and sensitive time in the nation’s history when the security and the independence of the whole nation and its people were at stake. These leaders who were then in Opposition, too, as they are now, did not attend the funeral for the fear that the ruling Congress folks there might take their revenge after all these years. This would be by haranguing them in return - for coming to the funeral of a man whose master strategy and plan of action for the nation they were totally ignorant about at that time. And the strategy and plan of action was totally antithesis to what they were preaching against Indira Gandhi at that time. They have probably thought it better to keep a low profile and not let the nation know that they were at the funeral for the fear that all their stupidity that they had displayed in the late 60s and early 70s would come out into the open.

It is obvious that they were and are still ashamed of their stand and political stance at that time. Perhaps the thought that they were made to look so out of touch, totally ignorant and stupid and unfit for any leadership positions at any time was still fresh in people’s memory and might shame them again, especially at a time when the elections are thought to be so near.

Forget the jerks and windbags in politics. What can the ordinary members of the public do to honour their fallen men and women in uniform? What can we do to honour the icons like Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw? We can honour them by placing thousands of Indian tricolours or fresh flowers in or outside our places of worship or outside the Army offices in our villages, towns and cities or by holding religious ceremonies at our club, community or association. Each flag and batch of flowers could represent a soldier who has died serving this country. One thing that I have observed of the British that we could well emulate is the placing of flowers either at the spot where the person has died or at the places of worship. I remember when Princess Diana died in a road accident some years ago, British people expressed their sorrow and love for her and paid tribute to her by placing tens of thousands of batches of fresh flowers outside the places of worship in their villages, towns and cities. When someone dies in any untoward incident or accident in Britain, people there express their sympathy and pay tribute to the dead by placing fresh flowers at the accident spot where the person has died. We could do the same.