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Salute to Major Gopi Singh Rathore
S. N. Sahu

Upholding the finest traditions of the Indian Army, Major Gopi became a martyr in the Arin village of Jammu and Kashmir on 10th November 2005 as he lead his men form the front in a fierce operation against terrorists. Born on 14th November 1970 and on the day of his martyrdom he was only four days short of his 35th birth anniversary.  While the nation was tearfully bidding farewell to the former head of our Republic K.R.Narayanan, the heroic defender of our democracy and secularism, Major Gopi was sacrificing his own life in defence of the integrity of our country and the ideals of our inclusive society from terrorist attack.

Gopi served the former President as his AsDC for four and half years. His exemplary performance of duties and the pleasant manner in which he discharged his responsibilities made him one of the favourite AsDCs.  He   was an admirable figure for the staff and officers of the Rashtrapati Bhavan right form the then Secretary to President Gopal Gandhi to the butlers and peons of that magnificent office.  

Rarely in the annals of military history does one come across a person of the stature and standing of Major Gopi? He showed his excellence as a soldier and stood out in the literary field for his exceptional brilliance as a poet and writer. His trained kinship with gun and his natural love for pen distinguished him as an adept wielder of these two mighty weapons for constructive purposes. A wonderful human being was his humanism, depth of understanding, breadth of vision and above all had a  winsome personality.

He topped in the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy and won the President’s medal. At a fairly young age and early stage of his carrier in the Army he was selected for Staff College at Wellington and proved his worth and talent by his brilliant performance.  

Gopi had matchless passion for books and his love for reading and writing was boundless. The glory of youth glowed on his face. But more than his steely frame and imposing external appearance his quest for knowledge impressed me the most. Seeing an army officer in my room I informed him that Mahatma Gandhi, apart from being impressed   by the exacting standards of discipline of the armed forces, was fascinated by drill performed by them and wrote admiringly about it. His face was lit with joy and happiness to know that the father of our nation and the apostle of non-violence was enamoured by these aspects of the defence forces and expressed his desire to see the exact source. Opening the pages of volume 16 of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi I read out the portion of the Gandhiji’s speech delivered at the Gujarat Educational Conference where he referred to drill in glowing terms and lamented that the British rulers, with a view to perpetuating their rule over India, never imparted military training to our students in schools.

An intellectual soldier he was a fine blend of brawn and brain.  His avid interest for studies and his keenness to expand the mental horizon by sustained endeavour cast a spell on me.  He was below 30 years of age when he was appointed as AsDC to the President Shri K.R. Narayanan.  He participated in an essay competition, organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, which was open only to the youth below thirty years of age of the South Asian region.  The theme of the essay centered on democracy.  He asked me for some material on the subject and left my room with some books and articles.  I was wondering as to how an AsDC to the President of India with a punishing schedule of duty could find time to read and write an essay on democracy.  He wrote a fine essay, stood first in the South Asian Region and received the award money of Rs. 25000. I was overwhelmed by his immense talent to read and write and his innovative way to integrate ideas in a manner which only a research scholar of long experience could do so.  But Gopi with hardly any research background was doing it effortlessly.  That capability of Gopi was a measure of his mental maturity which was far ahead of his age.  During his tenure in Rashtrapati Bhavan he published two Hindi books. While the first one “Aaj Se Pehele” is a book of poems the second one “Aur Kya Chahiye” is a collection of his short stories.  Both reflected his literary genius and ability to give meaning and expression to his subtle thoughts and emotions.

He was a brave soldier who had a literary bent of mind and a philosophical disposition to life and reality.  During his last visit to Delhi we had very long sessions discussing finer aspects of life. Gopi was extremely philosophical. I informed him that a leading intellectual from abroad described Mahatma Gandhi as the founder of the post materialistic world order.  The moment he heard of the phrase “Post Materialistic World Order” he expressed his desire to get some reading material on it. I further informed him that an international conference on the subject was organized in Delhi. He persisted on his request to get some literature on it and I assured him to explore opportunities to trace the material for his use. One of his Commanding Officers recalled that whenever he used to return from vacations Gopi’s first question to him used to be, “What all new books have you brought Sir?”   I was indeed completely spellbound by such a personality who while immeasurably enjoying him in performing his duties in combat uniform retained his quest for knowledge and serious pursuits for studies. No wonder that Gopal Gandhi, on hearing Gopi’s martyrdom, described him as “a flower of the Indian army” and later stated “I have not come across many such people in life”.

Gopi emerged in shining armour in those dare devil operations and proved his bravery, gallantry and professional ability. His colleagues in combat uniform were impressed to see Gopi out on operations against terrorists six nights a week. Apart from going on operations during day time he specially preferred to carry out operations in night. It abundantly spoke of his bravery, fearlessness and devotion to duty.    However what were notable about Gopi was his attempts to understand the problems of Kashmiri people in the larger context of social, economic and religious issues.  He had started reading Koran to understand the mind of the people of Kashmir and reach out to their hearts.  

Arin village mourned his passing away. The local mosque announced his martyrdom and urged inhabitants not to cook dinner for that night.  Such a proclamation from the mosque was eloquently expressive of the high honour and respect Maj. Gopi commanded among the village people.  When his mortal remains were brought to Delhi scores of people including the gardeners and peons of Rashtrapati Bhawan were there at the airport to pay their last respects.  As the body of Gopi was being taken from his house in Dehra Dun in a huge procession to the cremation ground with the Tri Colour covering his heroic physical frame, ordinary people from rooftops were throwing flowers as a mark of their admiration and gratitude to their beloved hero who laid down his life for the cause of the nation.  Wreaths from the President, Prime Ministers’ Office, Chiefs of the Armed Forces, Governors of West Bengal and Uttaranchal were laid.  But what was really touching and uplifting was the ordinary people’s respect for Major Gopi.

[Sahu has served President Narayanan as his Press Secretary and is currently Director in the Prime Minister’s Office.]