Veterans also said that 200 buses full of supporters had been stopped by the Haryana Police at the Delhi-Haryana borders at Bahadurgarh and Badarpur, though no reason had been given as to why.
Despite recent internal strife and divisions in their movement, ex-servicemen from across the country made one more stand on Saturday in the national capital, to show that their agitation for one rank one pension was going nowhere. Thousands of war veterans and their families poured into Jantar Mantar for the movement's mega rally to publicly declare their commitment to carrying one.
Veterans who have been organising the protest at Jantar Mantar for the past 90 days said anywhere between 15,000 to 20,000 people had turned up during the day, while Major General (retd) Satbir Singh, chairman of the United Force of ex-servicemen, the umbrella organisation leading the protest, gave a bombastic figure of one lakh.
Veterans also said that 200 buses full of supporters had been stopped by the Haryana Police at the Delhi-Haryana borders at Bahadurgarh and Badarpur, though no reason had been given as to why.
Though the Prime Minister announced implementation of the OROP scheme on September 4, the mood at the rally was far from celebratory, with the attendees wearing black armbands and speakers routinely shaming the government for making a fool out of them all. The 50 veterans on a relay hunger strike will continue their fasts as a sign of the agitation continuing.
Wheelchair bound Colonel Inderjit Singh, popularly known as the father of the OROP movement, who said he submitted the first memorandum to Indira Gandhi in 1982, chastised the current NDA government for the implementing a scheme that shortchanges the veterans and goes against the Parliament accepted definition of OROP. He thanked Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and the Delhi Police for lathi-charging the veterans on August 14, saying that had garnered support for the movement across the country. This sentiment has been echoed by many veterans over the past month, that the government's own punitive actions bolstered support for OROP.
Satbir Singh spoke again about all that was wrong with the current scheme and caustically rejected the 5 year gap in pension revision, the one man judicial commision, the implemented base. Despite thanking the PM and the centre on September 6 for announcing OROP, he minced no words on Saturday saying the people in charge had no clue as to how the armed forces functioned. He also demanded the implementation letter from the government, which is yet to come.
There was much outrage at recent statements by the Prime Minister and defence minister Parrikar. The PM had said on Friday that he had given 10,000 crore of the poor people's money to the armed forces for OROP and Parrikar said on Saturday that everyone could not always get what they demanded. Amidst much booing of the government, many veterans, especially the jawans, reminded the PM that the poor were their families, they were the sons and brothers of the poor.
There was also a great deal of emphasis on the unity of the movement -- they could only take it forward united -- which came in the wake of General (retd.) Balbir Singh's departure, along with his organisation, from the United Front. Singh was one of the three main negotiators, along with Satbir Singh and Inderjit Singh, and apparently left as he thought the demands had been largely fulfilled. His departure, on the eve of the rally, had cast doubts on the strength left in the OROP agitation, revealing the division within the leaders.
Even at the rally, despite the war cries on the mic, some veterans expressed skepticism as to the future of the movement, saying they weren't sure how it would continue.
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