Himalayan slip

India can emulate the British model and offer Gorkha soldiers from Nepal a longer tenure

- SANJIB KR BARUAH

AYO GORKHALI (The Gorkhas are upon you), is quite a menacing war cry on the battlefield. The Gorkhas have impressed one and all with their courage and fighting spirit. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw paid them the ultimate compliment: “If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gorkha.”

The Gorkha regiments are among the most decorated in the Indian Army and have served with unquestionable distinction. There is not a single battle or insurgency theatre in independent India where the Gorkha has not spilled blood—his own, as well as that of his adversary. And the incredible fact is that a substantial number of them are citizens of another country. Nepal is the traditional homeland of the Gorkhas, although they are also present in considerable numbers in India’s northeast and regions close to the Himalayas.

Not too far back in the past, every year there would be a rush of freshfaced Gorkha lads in Nepal, keen on a career in the Indian and British armies and the Singapore Police. But for the last three years, there have been no recruitment drives for the Indian Army, following a directive to that effect from Kathmandu.

Suman Sereng Maden, who runs a coaching centre for aspiring soldiers in Dharan in east Nepal’s Sunsari, told THE WEEK over the phone: “The Nepal government is opposed to sending any more Gorkha soldiers to join the Indian Army. Because of that, the recruitment has completely stopped. There is resentment against the ‘Agnipath’ system of recruitment.”