One Rank One pension is Stuck; What next?

The man who betrayed his promise to the  common soldier

The COAS who must call the Shots

The ex-serviceman's agitation is stuck as the Government does not seem to be blinking. Despite retired soldiers of the age of 70-80-90 sitting and fasting in the hot sun  as well as signing memorandum with their blood  to the prime minister, the GOI is not bending one bit and there is no announcement on anything concerning OROP. What then next? This would be in the mind of the men agitating as they come up against a wall.

Obviously Modi and the government are playing dirty and have a devious plan up their sleeve. I had long written that OROP will not come and expecting the Modi government to sanction it, looked to me a pipe dream.  unfortunately many servicemen used to a orderly life and not aware of the intricacies of politics,thought otherwise. It was thought that OROP will come by ingratiating themselves with the government and Modi and hence no attempt made to cultivate the opposition and men who matter like the RSS chief  Mohan Bhagwat and also other political leaders. On the contrary to ingratiate and show the government that they had faith in Modi, they even spurned the offer of support of the Congress party. The thinking was that Modi and the BJP will be annoyed and will stop OROP. This was a fallacious thought and doomed from the word go and the leadership of the  servicemen is now left holding the Modi baby and not knowing what to do. The damage done to the movement by this short sighted approach is immense and now OROP will not come, fasting, blood petition or anything.don't matter to Modi and the BJP

What then is the way ahead ? Obviously instead of appealing to the BJP government something else is required. The Indian army is in fact on a very strong wicket and as the best and biggest organised force in the country, something has to be done by the army. in this the COAS , at the moment general Dilbagh Singh is a key player. This man must show some spunk and not say " yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full" as has been the refrain of the army chiefs from the time of Cariappa.

The ex servicemen's association must approach the COAS and demand action from him. It needs to be impressed on him that he must put pressure on the government and if need be he should be ready to resign. OROP will come immediately.

There should be a two pronged strategy to  simultaneously approach the opposition parties led by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. Not approaching him and murmuring like a sheep that our movement is apolitical is neither here nor there. The fear that Modi and the BJP will be antagonised  is meaningless. Not forgetting getting the RSS on their side. The RSS controls the BJP and in case Mohan Bhagwat is convinced OROP will come like greased lightening.

Other things being OK, the EX Servicemen's association must have large banners in Newspapers to announce how Modi and BJP betrayed the poor soldier. Funds is a problem and donations from the men and NRI's can be tapped. Once a concerted bid is made, I am sure donations will come. To rely on small contributions from ex-servicemen themselves is not going to lead anywhere.

This calls for a concerted action and publicly men who are turncoats like General VK Singh and Rajyavardhan must be exposed. Let the public know they and their ilk  are the Black Sheep , men who have like Faustus sold their souls to the BJP.

The road ahead is hard and there can be no laxity and calls for concerted action, otherwise OROP will remain a pipe dream as millions of soldiers go to the next world. Remember Modi and the BJP are not bothered, so give them a taste of a medicine they understand.