Tarun Vijay
This is a special tribute to the brave hearts of the Jammu Kashmir Police who are one of the best soldiers of the Indian unity and constitution making the Khaki glow in colors of the Tricolour.
The nods against the personnel of the J&K police are certainly higher than their counterparts in other states. Islamist Jihadis are like Pakistani cowards in a different gear and uniform. Supported by an enemy country and given refuge by people hidden in the civil society.
J&K Police has to fight a battle with one hand tied behind their back- the issues of political pressures and the fake human rightists who often end up helping the enemy state.
I don’t know if there is any police memorial in Kashmir for the immortalized police jawans but the impression is that the sacrifices of J&K Police remain still unsung and unknown. According the J&K Police website the number of policemen martyred in the action against Jihadi terrorists stand at 1,669 personnel (2018) including ranks upward of the constables, special police officers to the DIG-level officers. Two incidents where J&K police personnel were brutally assaulted by the Islamists are still fresh in my mind- one the mob lynching of Muhammad Ayub Pandith in Nowhatta and the killing of 45-year-old police sub-inspector Mohammad Ashraf Dar who had come home to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha with his family. He was killed by Jihadis in his kitchen in front of his one-year-old daughter.
There are a hundred other stories of JK police personnel’s bravery and sacrifice for Mother India. And they are not an isolated example either.
Police force in many other states are working like an armed force. Specially in times like these, when the Corona pandemic is being fought by citizens in an extraordinary way, the Khaki force, ie the Indian Police has endeared itself to the millions of citizens who had a different opinion about them earlier.
Covid 19 battle has put the role of the police personnel in the eyes of all, more subtly and in an appreciative colour. The Khaki is not seen as a dreaded colour but as an ATH- Any Time Help. It is the right time when the leaders and the police top brass, must make it as a new beginning for the image makeover and to introduce police reforms as were suggested by the supreme court and stalwarts like Prakash Singh. They have been working on police reforms since long. Indian police must be trained as a friendly civic force in uniform unburdening it of all that the colonial legacy British gave it. The bright dreamy eyed youth joining the khaki want to be trained as a brother force- like we see in Singapore and Japan. The post-Independence police person wants to feel proud of his uniform and the great amount of appreciation he has earned proves it. Bhai to the citizen, brutal to the wicked.
Last week in Delhi hospital a Covid 19 patient jumped from the hospital’s third floor, with a huge sound of thud creating chaos in the lobby. People around saw a person jumping from balcony and landing on a tin shed at ground floor. The first person they called was the police man on duty. The man in khaki ran, didn’t care for his safety, took the semi-conscious patient in his arms and ran towards the emergency room. Out of depression the patient wanted to end his life. The policeperson, in Khaki, saved him with timely help.
Nobody would know the name of the brave cop neither he may get an award but this is not an exceptional story either. Hundreds and thousands of such tiny droplets of godly help are spread all over and people have started talking about it.
That’s the change coloring the fabric of a different Khaki. The khaki seen through the prism of love and respect tinged with the gratefulness.
Imagine the thousands of migrant laborers gathered on NOIDA -UP-Haryana borders. They were coming in waves. The only people whom administration could rely on were the police persons, who too faced the same dangers of getting infected, they too had their families waiting for them and cautioning them not to risk their lives. But the police proved that in all critical times they do what none else can. And it is true for not only the police personnel at the constable level but all top brass who have put in their best in this crisis.
Never ever felt like this for the Indian police which we loved to describe as a colonial burden, brute and often an unfriendly force. The Covid 19 has changed many things in our life but the most striking change that I see is the way people, common people have begun looking at them.
Whether it is the task of enforcing the constitutional obligations fiercely, nabbing terrorists or feeding a poor hungry person, the Men and Women in Khaki have become the adorable friendly force to the millions.
We saw them swinging into action and handling the difficult situation deftly with very firm hand. Srinagar flood relief work and the help to the corona victims, all these episodes were caught on video that went viral with millions showering praise on them.
We saw them distributing essentials to the needy and the poor, singing a song on Corona to make people understand the seriousness of the crisis in a rhythmic way or going from one shanty to the other in slums and villages hand delivering Atta, rice, salt and tea packets. They received stones too, in MP and some other states- but the culprits were caught and the war on Covid moved on.
It is sad that there is hardly any text book story for the students to learn that the history of the Indian police is quite different from what it was during the British. The first one instance is the attack by which was braved by the Indian policemen as the Nehruvian policy had the police force guarding our borders in Aksai Chin . The 21st October Police Day observed nationwide is in memory of those ten policemen who were killed by the Chinese in 1959 . They all belonged to the Central Reserve Police Force.
Here is the time now to say- thank you dear police and give them a standing ovation for all the sacrifices they have made for the Bharat Mata.
(The author is a BJP leader)
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