Speech by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP and Chairman, NMM- Bengaluru On occasion of Foundation stone ceremony of NMM

10 February, 2009, Bengaluru

Excellency Governor Shri Rameshwar Thakur, Hon’ble CM Dr BS Yeddyurappa, Shri Pallam Raju, Minister of State of Defence, Government of India, Admiral Suresh Mehta, Chief of Naval Staff and Chairman Chiefs of Staff committee, Air Chief Marshal Major Chief of Air Staff, Lt Gen Noble Thamburaj, Vice Chief of Army Staff, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends:

On behalf of Government of Karnataka, the Chief Minister and the National Military Memorial Committee, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to today’s Foundation stone ceremony.

I would like to start by thanking His Excellency Rameshwar Thakur for committing to this function despite his hectic program today. Thanks also to the Honble Chief Minister for presiding over this function today despite a obviously busy day. On behalf of all of you and myself I thank the guests of Honour who have come all the way from Delhi and agreed to be here – Lt Gen Thamburaj, Air Chief Marshal Major, Admiral Mehta and Shri Pallam Raju – Thank you for your presence, encouragement and support to this function and endevour.

This endeavor by the Government of Karnataka to build a memorial to the soldiers from Karnataka, who have served and protected our nation – is a noble one. This is one way that people of Karnataka are giving their thanks to the years of service and duty, of the many officers and men from this State and to their families. It is even more significant because this Bengaluru Memorial will be the first instance of a Military memorial being built in Independent India – a fact that sometimes surprises many, given the many conflicts fought by our forces and the many lives laid down and sacrifices made.

Armed forces personnel from Karnataka have participated in all the conflicts and threats on Post independence India including the Indo-Pak wars, Indo-China wars, the1984 IPKF operations in Srilanka, Kargil Operations, Anti-Terrorist Operations and 26/11 Terrorist attacks on Mumbai. 351 soldiers from Karnataka have laid down their lives and 132 severely wounded in service of the Nation. The state has produced many Senior Officers and Soldiers who have been decorated with gallantry awards – including the most recent sacrifices of Col Vasanth, Col Jojan Thomas and Major Unnikrishnan – all Posthumous Ashok Chakra awardees.

That is why for all of us, today marks a very important milestone - which started with a request that I made in October 2008 of my Chief Minister, as I have of many previous Chief Ministers. Without pausing even a minute, he agreed to the Government of Karnataka’s support and sponsorship of this project. His support has been key to taking the project from our dream to this important milestone. All of us in the committee are deeply grateful for his support. We look forward to his continued support to build the memorial and have it ready by Republic day, 2010. As you saw in the AV before the program, the memorial complex spread over 8 acres, will consist of the memorial and will include Exhibits of equipment, An amphi-theater and a museum and Park.

As a Member of Parliament, I am focused on the issues that are critical to building a strong and confident India. One of them is the important issue of building and strengthening the institutions that are the building blocks of our great nation. The Armed forces are one of them – and the men and women who make up the forces. I strongly believe and have always believed that the forces are the last of the few professional, secular institutions that are still driven by a sense of nationalism and duty and live and die by the simple idea of Nation First! - Values that unfortunately have disappeared or are disappearing from almost all other areas of public service.

So apart from the obvious reason of creating a memorial to honor their sacrifices, this memorial will also serve other important purposes. The memorial will serve as a beacon of inspiration to the young and upcoming generation of India – a generation in whom we are bestowing so much hope for the future of our great country. To this young generation, this should become inspiration not just about the brave people for whom this memorial is being built, but in a larger way, the ideals and values that the armed forces represent. Values of national service, commitment to the idea of a strong, progressive and united India, values of nation first or as the armed forces say it “Seva Parmo dharma”!

There is yet another reason for such a memorial. It is to make all of us in civil society more familiar and connected to the Armed forces. At a time when our nation is under threat from within and out, from low intensity conflicts and terrorist attacks – the armed forces represent not just the form of protection and defence to our way of life and democracy, but also represents the ideals on which this country was built – of commitment to nation and nation first. Even today, they are the only institution where the men and women go out to work saying Bharat Mata ki Jai and greet each other with a Jai Hind! I believe that we don’t value enough - our living soldiers, serving or retired. You need to only look at the protesting Ex-servicemen in Jantar Mantar, Delhi and see how little the media and civil society has bothered to question , why men of such great honor and record of service , are being forced to return their medals. It’s a sign that as a nation we are not caring enough or valuing their service enough. I consider it our duty to protect and nurture the forces and personnel and their families and have worked to the best of my ability in my few years of public service for this and I hope many-many more in civil society and media will be motivated by this memorial to do so today and in the future.

Let me end, by hoping that other states follow the lead of our Chief Minister and our state and build memorials as well. I also look forward to the day when we have an Arlington War memorial type National memorial in Delhi, preferably on the banks of the Yamuna, an idea that I have discussed with Hon’ble Minister of State of Defence on a number of occasions.

I thank each of you for taking the time to be here this evening. It’s a special evening for all of us and made more special by your presence and support.

Thank you, Jai Hind