Field Marshal KM Cariappa must get Bharat Ratna: Son

Bengaluru: Confer the country’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, on the late Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa as a one-off event, sans politics, says his son Air Marshal K.C. Cariappa (Retd).

The award would be an honour for the Indian Army but the decision itself would assume political contours irrespective of whichever party makes the choice, he rues in an interview to this newspaper. “The current Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, recommended Bharat Ratna for my father, but the Congress turns around, and says it is not for the Army Chief to make such suggestions. Are they questioning it because they think he will score brownie points for the BJP? Tomorrow, if the Congress were to say the same thing and suggest the name of Field Marshal Cariappa  for the award, the other party will say who are they to make this suggestion? That’s the sad thing. My father was very clear in his mind that the armed forces are loyal to the government of the day, not to any political party. And therefore he was able to stop politicization of the armed forces,” he added.

He said when the rank of Field Marshal was conferred on his father, then Army Chief the late General A.S. Vaidya made the recommendation but did not announce it in public in 1986. “The acme of one’s career is to become the commander in chief of the Army, which he did, and the icing on the cake came 30 years later when he was elevated as Field Marshal. When it comes to Bharat Ratna, which is given to people from different walks of life, I don’t see why the armed forces should be left out. It will be a fine move, but makes no difference to the morale of the armed forces. If salaries are enhanced, families of martyrs are looked after, and rations are given, these matter to the man on the field...,” he added.