Year, 1959, Place Amritsar. Some Indian Army Officers & their wives went to the Railway Station to see off one of their colleagues. Some goons made lewd remarks against the women & tried to molest them. The Army Officers chased the goons who took shelter in a nearby Cinema Theatre.
The matter was reported to Commanding Officer Col Jyothi Mohan Sen. On learning about the incident, the Col ordered the Cinema Hall to be surrounded by troops. All the goons were dragged out, the leader of the goons was so heady and drunk with power; he was none other than the son of Chief Minister of Punjab, Pratap Singh Kairon, a close associate of the then PM, Jawahar Lal Nehru.
All the goons were stripped to their underwear, paraded in the streets of Amritsar & later interned in the Cantonment. The next day, the Chief Minister became furious & tried to release his son from Indian Army's incarceration.
Do you know what happened?
His vehicle was not allowed to go into the Cantonment as a VIP Vehicle, he was compelled to walk all the way to meet the Colonel. The infuriated Chief Minister, Kairon complained about the whole affair to PM, Jawaharlal Nehru.
The perplexed, the so-called Bharat Ratna Prime Minister Nehru instead of questioning his confidante Pratap Singh Kairon, sought explanation from the Army Chief, General Thimmayya for the conduct of his Officers.
Do you know what was replied?
"If we can not defend the honour of our women, how can you expect us to defend the honour of our Country ?"
Nehru was dumbfounded. That was the Story of a brave Soldier who defied the Prime Minister.
This article was contributed by Maj. Gen. Dhruv C Katoch in the magazine "Salute to the Indian Soldier."
Good article about an officer who has to be a role model, is not even known to many. Thank you for such an article 🙏
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