“The ex-servicemen will celebrate a black Diwali” said retired major general Satbir Singh, SM, while addressing a rally at Azad Maidan on Saturday.
“The ex-servicemen will celebrate a black Diwali” said retired major general Satbir Singh, SM, while addressing a rally at Azad Maidan on Saturday. He requested all ESMs (ex-servicemen) to not light lamps at home because of government’s dilly-dallying attitude on the promise of ‘asli’ (original) OROP even after 42 years.
He also said that while the experts have worked out the demographic profile of the citizens, for some reasons, that of the servicemen has been left out. The statistics have also brought out that the servicemen are not only young in service but also die young as compared to the average countrymen, Mr Singh said. He also added that the country should have a Covenant Act as exists in the US and the UK and an ex-servicemen commission as already introduced in the Parliament by MP Rajiv Chandrashekhar.
About 7,000 ESMs from various parts of Maharashtra, particularly Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Malegaon and Nasik participated in the rally. Before the rally, 15 motorcycle-borne veterans drove from Bandra to the venue displaying placards and shouting pro-OROP slogans. These included Commander Subroto Mukherjee, Lt colonel Sohan Roy and their team leader Kabir.
When The Asian Age approached major general Satbir Singh, he said, “We don’t want any edited proposal, we are not even ready to accept any comma or full stop in the proposal which we had accepted earlier. This is the second phase of our agitation. Our people observed hunger strikes as well but that did not bother the government. But, we have decided to do rallies in all over the country and hope that with this government will listen to us,” said Mr Singh.
