'If Modi is talking to every Tom, Dick and Harry, why is he afraid of talking to ex-servicemen?'
On Wednesday, November 2, Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal (retired), 70, a resident of Bhiwani district in Haryana, committed suicide in the national capital allegedly over the non-implementation of the One Rank, One Pension, triggering a political war of words.
When Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal turned up at the hospital where Grewal's body was kept, they were detained by the police.
Brigadier J S Sandhu (retired), a member of the group of retired soldiers spearheading the demand for the OROP scheme, tells Rediff.com's Firdaus Ashraf why ex-servicemen are unhappy with the Modi government.
What is the problem with OROP? Why are ex-servicemen still protesting?
To understand this issue, you will have to go back to 1973. Till then, OROP was given to the armed forces and it was reviewed each year.
This was taken away in 1973 on the pretext that the retirement age of jawans would increase and they would be absorbed into the paramilitary forces.
Using this false pretext, they increased the pension of civil bureaucrats from 33 per cent to 50 per cent.
Since then, the Pay Commissions -- 3, 4, 5, 6 -- started degrading the status of officers.
So, this is nothing new as we are asking for the restoration of our status that was adjusted in 1973.
We have been making this same demand for the past 40 years.
There have been reports that OROP has been implemented and soldiers are getting revised pensions. Isn't that the case?
When Narendra Modi was campaigning to be prime minister in 2014, he promised us that he would implement OROP.
OROP means revision of pension every year.
It means those who are of the same rank and have served for the same period of time, receive the same pension.
For example, you are in the infantry and serve as a havaldar for 18 years in the Sikh Regiment. Similarly, you serve as a havaldar in the Jat Regiment for 18 years.
Naturally when someone has become havaldar in 14 years he will get more pension than that havaldar who has become one in 18 years.
We said that this is peculiar to the army and it is not the havaldar's fault. This does not happen in the civil services.
Now if the date of retirement is the same for both the havaldars, then both the havaldars must get the same pension and this is what we demand.
Right now, they are not getting the same pension.
So what did the Modi government give then?
Firstly, the government changed the pension rule by adjusting it not every year, but every five years.
This is not OROP, but a one-time increase.
OROP means an increase in pension every year.
Secondly, at the top of scale, they made an average.
Now if an infantry guy becomes a havaldar after 14 years and another infantry guy becomes havaldar after 18 years, the government says there will be an average year which will be calculated.
The government says they will average out the years of the havaldars and will give the middle figure of 16 years and then calculate the pension accordingly.
Thirdly, pension calculations were not right vis-a-vis the financial year.
Wasn't your dharna withdrawn after OROP was announced?(Back in June 2015, the ex-servicemen had sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar demanding the implementation of OROP.)
We did not withdraw, we have been there every day.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said we had put a gun to his head. He didn't call us for talks and instead formed a committee. And this committee did not take up our demands. Therefore, we have gone back on a dharna from November 1.
The understanding among the public is that OROP has been implemented by the Modi government.
The Modi government is not speaking the truth on OROP.
If he (Modi) is saying that OROP has been implemented, then let him call the veterans face to face and decide the issue.
Why is the Modi government not meeting ex-servicemen?
The Modi government is lying on OROP. They have given OROP, but it is not complete OROP.
As an ex-serviceman, do you feel sad to see politicians indulging in politics over Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal's death?
It is very bad. Politics must not be played in this case.
If these politicians were bothered about Ram Kishan Grewal, they should have taken up our cause in Parliament, which they did not do.
They took up our cause very casually when Parliament was in session.
OROP was passed by Parliament, but if the Opposition had taken up the matter, then probably Ram Kishan Grewal would not have died and we would have not been sitting here (on dharna).
Who is to blame for Subedar Grewal's death?
It is the politicians and bureaucrats.
The nation keeps saying they are with the army. If that is the case, then why is the OROP issue not being solved?
Pardon me for what I say next. 99 per cent of politicians are average (in mind). However, the bureaucrats, IAS officers, are sharp and do not wish the army to be of the same standing as them.
They have put an unnecessary fear in the minds of the politicians that the army will stage a coup and take over the administration of the country.
They keep tinkering and manoeuvring the system to deny us our rights.
A brigadier who is equivalent to a deputy inspector general of police now draws less pension than a DIG.
The bureaucracy has instilled the fear of a military coup in the minds of politicians ever since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru.
When the Pakistani army took over, Nehru was made to fear the same.
He suffered badly in the 1962 war and a book can be written on how Nehru degraded the army's status from 1947 to 1962.
It is also a fact that India got Independence earlier because of the Indian Army.
The British knew the Indian Army had gone against them and they ran away.
Independence was due in January 1948, but we got it in 1947 as the British ran away.
Do you feel there is a genuine fear in the government that the army will take over if they are given importance?
This is an unfounded fear.
I have written letters saying in 68 years nothing has happened! No one has done this in the last 70 years, so why are they afraid?
I have spent 36 years in the army and I don't think I have ever seen any such tendency in any general.
Defence Minister Parikkar has said it is only one lakh ex-servicemen who have not got their dues and that too due to some technical difficulties.
We are not going into the details of who has got what and who has not got it. We are saying that your basic matrix is wrong and it is not much of money.
What Parikkar is saying is administrative details.
If Prime Minister Modi is talking to every Tom, Dick and Harry, why is he afraid of talking to ex-servicemen? He is going to servicemen who are in uniform, but not ex-servicemen.
Even when we were on a hunger strike, Modi did not come.
No one from the government has so far come to Jantar Mantar to meet us.
The Modi government is very pro-defence forces, you cannot deny that.
They are pro-army in their statements and outlook, but not from their hearts.
Are you hopeful this OROP issue will be resolved now?
We are hoping for the best. We will carry on with this struggle till they agree and OROP is implemented.
The government just gave us a one time increase in the pension. All the governments have been fooling us for the last 40 years.
