Kolhapur salutes its braveheart

With tears in eyes and anguish in hearts, thousands of villagers from Pimpalgaon and nearby villages bid a final adieu to Kundalik Kerba Mane, a soldier of the Indian Army who sacrificed his life in the line of duty.

Mane was cremated with full military honours in his native village Pimpalgaon in Kolhapur district on Thursday.
Mane was one of the five soldiers who were killed by Pakistani army in an ambush in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. Mane’s body was brought to Pune from Delhi by air on late Wednesday and then to Kolhapur by road early morning. Mane’s body arrived in Pimpalgaon in army convoy around 8 am Thursday morning.

Thousands of villagers from Pimpalgaon and nearby villages, including women and school children, had already gathered for a final farewell to their national hero. The crowd gave Slogans such as ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Kundalik Mane Amar Rahen’ were chanted by the crowd when the body was taken out of army truck. The body was taken to Mane’s home and later it was taken to an open ground in a decorated truck.

Wreaths were placed by various senior officers from the Indian Army, state ministers, including home minister RR Patil, minister of state for home Satej Patil, Parliamentary affairs minister Harshwardhan Patil, labour minister Hasan Mushrif and BJP leader Gopinath Munde who were present during the last rites, which took place on an open ground in Pimpalgaon.

The crowd gathered for the last rites also shouted anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded strong retaliation from the Indian Army in reply to the killing of Indian army soldiers.

His rakhi was on the way when he died

Kundalik Mane got his rakhi well before time every year, no matter where he was posted. This year too, his younger sister Vimal had posted him the Rakhi nearly three weeks before Rakshabandhan, but before the Rakhi could reach to her brother, the news of his death reached her.

According to the family members of Mane, Vimal was more attached to Kundalik than to her younger brother Vijay. Only a few days back, Vimal had come to her maternal house to stay with her parents as she was not well.

“She spoke to Kundalik last week to inform him that she had sent a Rakhi for him to Poonch. Kundalik was happy and had asked me to withdraw Rs1,000 and give it to Vimal on his behalf Rakshabandhan. But sadly, we got the shocking news of his death,” Kundalik’s father Kerba Mane, said.

Kundalik was the only one in his family to join the armed forces. He wanted to educate his son and make him a senior officer in the Army.

Kerba said Kundalik insisted on admitting his five-year-old son Amol and 11-year-old daughter Arati to English medium school and good education. He wanted Amol to join the Indian Army, but as an officer, not as a Jawan. “Just a couple of days before the attack, Kundalik called me and told me that he was planning to visit home for the Ganpati festival. Now my son will never return home,” Kerba mourned.

High time we gave strong reply to Pak acts: RR Patil

Pained by the untimely death of his eldest son Kundalik Mane, Kerba Mane said Pakistan should be destroyed for such inhuman act.

The devastated farmer, who has not eaten anything ever since he got the news of his brave son Kundalik’s death, had to be supported by villagers at the funeral.

Speaking to dna after the last rites were performed on Kundalik, Kerba Mane said, “Now government should not tolerate such cowardly attacks by Pakistan. We must teach a lesson to the enemy. Burn the entire Pakistan, do not leave them,” demanded the anguished father.

Home minister RR Patil who was present while the last rites on Kundalik Mane were performed, said, “Now the time has come to give a strong reply to such acts. The state will convey sentiments of the state’s citizens to the Centre.” Various other state ministers who were present for the last rites ceremony announced monetary help for the Mane family. Parliamentary affairs minister Harshvardhan Patil said, “The members of parliament and members of legislative council from Kolhapur district will give their one month’s salary to the Mane family.”

Labour minister Hasan Mushrif announced that he would bear all the expenses of the education of Kundalik’s son and daughter. Besides, Rs5 lakh would be deposited in Mane’s family bank accounts, he added.

Ministers cold shouder family

Though the ministers announced financial aid to the Mane family, the family members were angry with the ministers and claimed that the ministers who had come to attend the last rites of Kundalik to Pimpalgaon did not even bother to visit his house. Kerba Mane said, “Though a slew of ministers had come to Pimpalgaon, none of them bothered to visit our house and they did not even enquire about us. In fact, when we saw these ministers at the last rites ceremony, we approached them and introduced ourselves to them.”