Lt. Gen. (Dr.) D B Shekatkar

Lt. Gen. (Dr.) D.B. Shekatkar, was the head of Committee of Experts also known as Shekatkar Committee, of Government of India. Post retirement, Lt. Gen. Shekatkar is President of Forum for Integrated Security. He served as Chair Professor in Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, University of Pune and Advisor, Symbiosis University, Pune. Currently he is the Chancellor of Sikkim University. He has received Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Param Vishisht Seva Medal from the President of India, for his services.

Over 125 years back , an inspirational and historic speech was given by an Indian at Chicago, where he said “ I can see India rising “. He was none other than  Acharya Narendra or Swami Vivekanand.

India is now rising and has been on this path since 2014, by another Narendra – Our beloved Prime Minister Modiji.

I am a soldier and have served my country for 40 years including the ’65, ’71 and in the Kargil war I was managing the Arunachal Pradeesh Front. During my various  assignments  in the Army Headquarters at Delhi, I had the opportunity to serve under various Defense Ministers and understand the diverse thought processes and vision of the country from their perspectives and varied forms of leadership.

Unfortunately, the ruling party post independence , ensured the country remained just like the Britishers wanted it to be , which continued for 40 – 45 years . Their thought process was just like the colonial rulers, where they wanted the country to never grow or rise but just be underdeveloped and not give the people a chance to grow as a strong nation. They were only interested in dynasty based baton passing of leadership and went to the masses only for votes every 5 years.

To add to it they made the mistake of aligned their thoughts and synergising with the Communist parties ideology , which further put India on a  path of low development and negligible growth for decades.

Another dangerous step by this ruling party  was to make China sound like a superpower , Like a demon with a big army , great nation , big industry , economy etc, as if India was nothing in front of it but just a country of casual labourers.

I am not a politician but talking from a point of view of the country and its people. After seeing the above mentioned gross mistakes and decisions by the dynasty party, I am reminded of what Swami Vivekanand said about India rising and which brings me to the period starting from when PM Modi took over the mantle of this country in 2014 and after his efforts of 5 to 6 years, the country is on the right track and actual growth path since 2017.It takes time for a new prime minister to make a change involving the bureaucracy, thought processes, working styles and attitude for a paradigm shift in transforming the country being run by a incompetent leadership just signing files to an  able visionary and leader like Shri Narendra Modi.

One Indian envisioned a rising India and a century later on another Indian is realising those dreams  for the country.“DREAMS are not what you see while sleeping..Dreams are which don’t let u sleep till the goal is achieved. “

This is the commendable path being followed by Shri Narendra Modi to achieve this dream of India of making it known to the world as a powerful country , not with weapons or army but in aspects of Positive Karmayog , Yoga, Trade and Economy, Spirituality, Values and principles, Rich Traditions and International Cooperation and relations.

As far as the Armed forces goes , anywhere in the world, it is the political leadership which gives the decisions for its actions and we have the  the able and dynamic thoughts of the Prime minister with his best decisions  on the defense of the nation.

This is how we see him and we pray that a leader like him remains with us as the PM for the nextx 10 years at least which is the only way for the country’s dreams to be fulfilled and see it rising to the hopes of the world , which is watching India grow to its pinnacle and being respected across the globe.

On the front of International relations, he has adopted a policy and path of maintaining friendliness with all countries across the world with focus on immediate neighbours – PADOSI PEHLA policy towards Pakistan and China.

He went  to China, met the president , travelled across China to places like Wuhan to understand the culture and people. He also invited them to India, to ahmedabad and Mahabalipuram so that the chinese president could see and understand India too, but unfortunately the Chinese government and the leadership stabbed him in the back. They betrayed India and its Prime Minister.

But he has managed to pass a strong message to them and warned them of dire consequences if they think of trespassing on the sovereignity of Indian soil.

China has become arrogant , greedy and they will soon meet the same doomed fate as USSR. Their wrongdoings including the primary source of spreading the worldwide pandemic of the Corona virus, has led to a world wide hate for them and the leaders across have pledged support to India, in case of a conflict, which is again a very well handled situation by PM Modi. His good vision of joint action by the foreign minister and Defense minister has ensured that China has understood the might of the Indian armed forces and cannot be overconfident of small skirmishes like Ladakh or Doklam.

On the Pakistan front, it was a celebratory decision by him to approve the SURGICAL STRIKES, which made every Indian feel proud of avenging terrorism sponsored events by Pakistan, like Pulwama, URI, Pathankot etc .  Sometimes , the enemy needs to be shown the power one has by an action and not just see the power from a distance and this is what PM Modi has done to ensure the message is passed to them.

He took the risk of doing this strike and ensured the safety of our armymen  by being awake  late at night till and monitoring the complete action till they came back after a successful operation, which is the true example of a hands on leader. He will never hesitate again to teach a lesson to Pakistan or China if they ever eye on India again and will ensure that they stop their Terrorism sponsoring activities in the North East and Kashmir, against India.

As a soldier, I always stay from the political events in the country but I would like to suggest to the PM and the ruling party that we have to first destroy the internal enemy, the traitors who are sheltering and supporting terrorism within the country so as to achieve their selfish gains and jeopardize the security of the country. I request the govt and PM to be very tough on such anti nationals in the country and clean the system of such snakes, who will bite us if not controlled immediately.

As an individual, in his personal life story he has risen from very humble background where he has seen poverty, deprivation, value of hard work and rising from that level of selling tea as a young kid to earn his daily bread, educating himself and being a self made man thru the path of politics and becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat which has been a huge success story of the brilliant model of economy of the state and further on becoming a great statesmen as the Prime Minister of the India.

He can relate to the poor and common man as he has faced hardships and overcome them to achieve his dreams. As a chief minister of Gujarat, his effective handling of all situations like communal violence, Rath yatras was excellent and he understood on ground realities for crucial decisions.

On his first day at parliament, which he has never been before as he never an elected member, he put his head down on the first step and must have taken a pledge to make his country rise to its dream.

He was magnanimous to visit our enemy countries and see for himself , the leadership and people.

He is the only Prime Minister who promotes – VASUDEVA KUTUMBAM – the whole world is a family and now he is the worlds most admired leader.

His vast political experience, deep intellect, humility, patriotism , sense of humour keeps him at a high pedestal of a great personality. His excellent oratory skills and easy language in Hindi or English can be understood across the world. His well balanced words can be related by a farmer and rural India , which constitutes the majority population of the country.

His focus on a clean country with the Swach Bharat Abhiyan is a historic initiative to make a huge change to the health and environment of the country.

How many Prime Ministers can speak forcefully and motivate the morale of our armed forces and its soldiers , which is witnessed in every interaction of his including the recent one at Ladakh.

I  request the country to recognize his leadership qualities and vision for the nation. Do not lower the respect and keep his status high as the Prime Minister of the country and encourage such low level activities by groups who are against him.

Have trust in his vision of making the country ATMANIRBHAR, which applies to the Defense related functioning of the country also. Historically , we have depended on weapon systems from foreign countries with 70 % in imports , which should move now to indigenous production for weapons and equipment.

The defense reforms committee was setup under the leadership of the prime minister to foresee and suggest the best mechanism for implementing the best possible operational effectiveness and readiness for future wars including biological ones.

MAKE IN INDIA initiative by the PM , would enhance self sufficiency and readiness in the Army, Navy and Airforce . Existing public and private sector organizations are aleady making huge contributions to the countrys defense sector.

On the occasion of his 70^th birthday, I wish him good health and fitness and look forward to his continued and brilliant leadership for achieving Indias dream.