Aurora, The Man Of War Who Preached Love And Practiced Peace
S P Singh
Chandigarh:
It could not have got any bigger.
He had overseen the surrender of over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers, stripped the epaulettes off a Pakistani general's shoulder, something no one before or after him had ever done, and made him sign an Instrument of Surrender at the very spot where Shiekh Mujibur Rahman had declared freedom of Bangladesh about nine months earlier.
Thirteen years later, the same man ran for his life on the streets of Delhi. On October 31, 1984, I alongwith Air Chief Marshall (retd) Arjan Singh (and two others) left the house of Patwant Singh but immediately saw on our way mobs attacking the Sikhs ... Within 15-20 minutes we returned, the retired general Jagjit Singh Aurora told the Nanawati Commission.
It was shocking. I K Gujral was furious and said it is shameful that the man who led the country to its biggest victory needed protection, prominent Supreme Court lawyer H.S.Phoolka told me. Aurora and his wife had to spend the night of November 1, 1984 at the residence of Gujral. It was apparent that the government of the day was not interested at all in protecting the lives and properties of citizens, Aurora stated on oath before the Commission.
It could not have got any more shameful.
But dignity came naturally to Aurora. He looks composed in the picture as Lt Gen AAK Niazi signed the surrender. He looked composed when he barged into the house of India's Home Minister PV Narasimha Rao on November 1, 1984 to demand action to stop rioting, Phoolka said. And he looked composed and happy when General Niazi's daughter-in-law came to meet the Auroras years after the surrender.
Recently, a depositor of a Delhi-based company, Hindustan Financial Management Ltd, filed a case naming Aurora as accused. Aurora's counsel argued that he was no longer associated with the company, but the Patna judge refused the anticipatory bail application.
It could not have got more embarrassing.
But Aurora remained composed. It was his nature.
My father was a soldier, but he could tell the most wonderful of fairy tales. For him, my mother was the most beautiful woman till her very end when she was very old. We learnt from this man of war what love is all about, Aurora's daughter Anita Kalra said, as she stood by the side of a frame which has a picture of Aurora watching Niazi signing, a picture which is a full stop in the nation's memory.
My father was fond of telling us a story of a dead Pakistani soldier from whose pocket he found a letter from his wife. So poignantly had the wife beseeched the soldier husband to return home safe and sound that papa's eyes would well up with tears while telling us the story. He could never complete it. Now, he never will, Kalra said.
May 3, 2005