Karnataka - Bangalore   

Let us salute our heroes

Bangalore:There was much celebration when the High Court of Karnataka ruled in favour of the National Military Memorial (NMM) two weeks ago.

However, the petitioners claimed it was not in the interest of the public.

The issue doesn't seem to have an end!

A lot of thought and planning has gone into the memorial and it cannot be scrapped by a few individuals with selfish interests.

Honouring soldiers

The Indian Armed Forces is one of the most resilient fighting forces in the world. Yet for all these efforts and the loss of life, we as civilians never once considered honouring them by way of a memorial.

Every nation in the world respects its men and women in uniform, yet somehow, we Indians seem to have forgotten them. Construction of the NMM must go ahead as planned as it is to honour those men and women who did not think about their aging parents or grown up daughters as they had put the interest of the country above their own.

When Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan gave his life to protect those of his men and country or when Colonel Vasant sacrificed his, plastic banners were erected all over the city and they were celebrated as sons of Bengaluru. But was that enough?

I fear unless a memorial is constructed, these names and the names of 1,900 other men would just be a vague memory in a few years.

Let us salute our heroes posthumously by erecting a military memorial as a collective homage.

I urge all my fellow Bangaloreans to stand by the High Court's decision, the Chief Minister, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, the families of those who have sacrificed themselves for this nation and the brave men and women in uniform.

I know I'm going to be doing just that.

Rohit Nair is a founding member of the BangalorePatriots Society [www.patriots.org.in].

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