(This story was originally published on 25 July 2019. It has been reposted from The Quint's archives to commemorate Kargil Vijay Diwas.)
Nearly forty-eight books were written after Kargil – the maximum following any Indian war. Kargil had captured the imagination of the youth being the first TV war fought under a caretaker government. I recall seeing lads wearing fatigues and carrying toy guns recreating scenes from Kargil, Yet the NOIDA park is a far cry from the rugged heights of Kargil.
The movie came much later. The most defining book on Kargil titled From Surprise to Reckoning – the Kargil Review Committee Report, came in the form of the government’s scrutiny of the mishap, and was headed by the doyen of strategic thought, K Subramaniam. Much water has flown down the Shingo river since, resonating the monumental intelligence failure which cost the lives of 527 bravehearts. This figure could have been much lower and duration of operations shorter, if the Army had proper gear and equipment in its fighting inventory and there was no embargo on crossing LoC.
The-then Army Chief, Gen Ved Malik, made this famous remark ‘we will fight with what we have’. Rather this infamous comment was first made during the 1962 debacle by Lt Col MS Rikh, CO 2 Rajput and most lately, by Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa in connection with a two-front war after Balakot.