The recent controversy behind the Ashoka Chakra awards seem to tell a different tale altogether. And that is, you cannot be brave if you come out alive! All the awards were posthumous. Did no other NSG commando, besides Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Gajendra Singh, display any gallantry in the Taj Mahal hotel seige? I bet if Unnikrishnan had managed to do what he did and remained alive, he wouldn’t have got the Ashoka Chakra.
The government seems to be saying — if you want an award, you’d better die, because if you are alive, that is a reward in itself. And look at the absurdity of cash awards. Someone who practised in serene ambient surroundings, shooting at a target 10 feet away, which in any case could not fire back, gets Rs 5 crore. On the other hand, someone who has to face trained armed terrorists gets only Rs 25 lakh. Bravery appears to have divisions as well.
And has the media realised that during a recent award ceremony on a TV channel, Vinita Kamte let the cat out of the bag? She gave details as to which policeman in the jeep alongwith Hemant Karkare and Ashok Kamte got how many bullets in his body. If the terrorists could fire that many bullets at the policemen and get away with the jeep, that is a sure sign that all of them were ambushed, taken by surprise and nothing they did could ever be considered gallantry.
T R Ramaswami, Mumbai
