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The 50th anniversary of 1965 war has been observed by government. At INDIA GATE, tributes were paid to the AmarJawans who laid their lives for the nation in the war. But the war veterans are sitting on hunger strike few yards away, at Jantar Mantar. Ministers do not look at Jantar Mantar. They do not go by that road. Before last Lok Sabha elections the present Prime Minister and other leaders gave promise that OROP would be implemented. They have forgotten their own promises. Before bowing out the UPA government also declared that OROP would be implemented. But they failed to do it when they were in power. Now, their leaders are in opposition. Hence they go to Jantar Mantar. The same political drama will be enacted again and again....
With every passing day, the issue of OROP - one rank, one pension for retired armed forces personnel - is likely to become more unsolvable. When so many of them are sitting on strike at Jantar Mantar and getting increasingly emotional about it, it is simply not possible for government to wave an account book in front of them and expect a reasonable compromise. Emotions cannot be tackled by an accountant's rationality beyond a point.
That this issue has been ruined by politicians promising OROP when they are not in power or as an election sop when they are about to lose power is obvious. Narendra Modi promised it before the 2014 elections, and so did the UPA before bowing out. Two finance ministers, P Chidambaram and Arun Jaitley, also promised OROP in vague terms in their budgets.
However, the real issue is emotional for ex-servicemen. They love their ranks, and two people who retired with similar ranks do not like being treated differently. They are also emotional because politicians made open-ended promises to honour their wishes without calculating the costs. They thus feel cheated repeatedly. The ordinary citizen will also back them out of emotion - for no Indian is ungrateful to men in the army who put their lives on the line to defend the country.
When it is about pensioners, the decision is delayed. But, there was no delay in announcing sops for Bihar because election is coming.....
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