Fox’s remark on the movie, which has been nominated under the Best Picture category for the forthcoming Oscars, has triggered an uproar among Indians and Sikhs in the UK and military historians.

A poster of Sam Mendes-directed 1917

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has advised British actor Laurence Fox to “read some military history” and termed as “bunkum” his remark that the featuring of a Sikh soldier in a scene in 1917 amounted to “forcing diversity” on viewers.

Fox’s remark on the movie, which has been nominated under the Best Picture category for the forthcoming Oscars, has triggered an uproar among Indians and Sikhs in the UK and military historians.

Amarinder, also a military historian, told The Indian Express that the Indian troops, which arrived in Europe in 1914, played an important role in preventing a military disaster. “This man is an actor. What does he know about military history? He is talking bunkum and he should read some history,” he said

“Two divisions went from here (India), the Third Lahore Division and Seventh Meerut Division. My regiment was part of Jalandhar Brigade, which comprised the 129th Baluchis, 47 Sikhs and 15 Sikhs. There was also a British Regiment, as after 1857, each brigade had one British Regiment as its part,” he said.

Amarinder said the Indian troops had been in contact with the Germans in the North. “We fought a delaying action right up to the Ypres line. We very much fought alongside British troops. The whole system would have collapsed had Indians not been there. The Indian troops fought for 66 days straight without proper food, sleep and they were deadbeat at the end of it,” he said.

Squadron Leader Rana Chhina, a military historian with United Services Institute in Delhi, said that it was good that the movie had shown the presence of an Indian soldier, albeit briefly.

“There had been earlier movies like Gallipoli and Dunkirk, which did not recognise the major contribution of Indian soldiers in the World Wars. In Gallipoli, there was just one scene in which a khukri was shown lying on the sand. In Dunkirk, there was no mention of the fact that there were four animal transport units in the area out of which three were evacuated and one was captured by the Germans,” he said.

Instead, at 9.33 am, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial, which was opened on February 25, 2019.

Winners of the national bravery awards at the Republic Day full dress rehearsal on Rajpath on Thursday. (Express phpoto by Praveen Khanna)

Changing a decades-old tradition, the 71st Republic Day ceremony this Sunday will not begin from India Gate, where the Prime Minister commemorates soldiers who have died in combat for India. Instead, at 9.33 am, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial, which was opened on February 25, 2019.

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Army chief General M M Naravane, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Force chief Air Marshal R K S Bhadauria will stand behind Modi when he pays homage to the dead soldiers.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Yesso Naik and Defence Secretary Ajay Garg will also be present at the ceremony.

The eternal flame that is lit under India Gate is also lit at the National War Memorial, which mentions names of all Indian soldiers who have died defending the country since Independence.

After laying the wreath, the Prime Minister will go to Rajpath for the Republic Day parade, which will last for 90 minutes, starting 10 am. The parade, which also has 22 tableaux from various states and government departments, will feature a few debuts this year.

On March 27 last year, India became only the fourth country to successfully fire an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile under a project named Mission Shakti. Demonstrating this prowess, the A-SAT missile will feature in the parade this Republic Day.

It will be part of the tableau of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the agency responsible for propelling India to the elite league.

The DRDO will also feature its Air Defence Tactical Control Radar.
Another indigenous project in the Republic Day parade for the first time will be the 155mm/45 Dhanush Gun System. Developed and manufactured by the Ordnance Factory Board, Dhanush, a howitzer, will be part of the Army’s display.

The Army will also showcase the K-9 Vajra, a self-propelled gun.

Also marking their debuts will be the Sarvatra Bridge System and 5-meter Short Span Bridge, both developed by the Engineering Corps of the Army.

Beyond these Made in India projects, India will also bring out the heavy-lifter helicopter Chinook and Apache, an attack helicopter. The country had acquired both in 2019. The two kinds of helicopters will be part of the fly-past.

Contrary to what was reported earlier, popular hymn Abide With Me will be part of the Beating Retreat ceremony on January 29. As the last song played by the military band, it will follow Vande Mataram, which was supposed to replace the hymn, according to some reports.

The parade will have 16 marching contingents from the armed forces, paramilitary forces, Delhi Police, National Cadet Corps and 13 military bands. The motorcycle display this year will be performed by an all-woman team of the Central Reserve Police Force.

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at the parade this year. This will be the third time that a Brazilian President will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade, the last occasion being in 2004.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22

Drawing a distinction between accession and merger, senior counsel Jaffar Ahmad Shah on Wednesday contended before the Supreme Court that Jammu and Kashmir didn’t merge with India like other states.

“The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir can never be subordinate to the Constitution of India. We have full authority to make laws. The vestige of sovereignty is not vested with any state in India, except ours,” Shah — who represented Kashmir Bar Association — told a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana.

The Bench — which also included Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant — is hearing petitions challenging the nullification of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, which divided the state into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir; and Ladakh.

Terming nullification of Article 370 as “illegal”, Shah said, “All of a sudden, shockingly, the President of India states that all Constitutional orders are superseded and all provisions of the Indian Constitution will apply to Jammu and Kashmir… the whole Constitution of India can never be made applicable to us.” He said the justification given for the August 5 Constitutional Order that Jammu and Kashmir was underdeveloped, lacked amenities, infrastructure and was in a bad shape was not legally sustainable.

As Shah described it as a “constitutional fraud”, Attorney General KK Venugopal objected to it, saying expressions like “constitutional fraud” should not be used.

“Why not?” responded Shah. It has been used in Supreme Court judgments, he added. Pointing out that the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir had signed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947, the senior counsel said the court can’t ignore the provisions of this document and the fact that the Kashmir issue was still pending in the UN.

Shah said when Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession; he never signed the “standstill agreement” or the “merger agreement”, leading to Article 370 that required the state’s concurrence to every act of the Union for extending that to Jammu and Kashmir.

He said there was no conflict between the Constitution of India and the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and both the Constitutions had been working in tandem. He referred to Article 370(2) of the Indian Constitution which required concurrence of the state assembly for laws enacted by Union Parliament to be applicable to the state.

Senior counsel Dinesh Dwivedi, representing intervenor in the case Prem Shankar Jha, had on Tuesday said Article 370 was the only “tunnel of light” (link) between India and Jammu and Kashmir and it could not have been used to end to effect irreversible changes in the erstwhile state’s status.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh — who represented People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) — concluded his arguments. Both Parikh and Shah wanted the Bench to refer the matter to a seven-judge Bench, contending that verdicts in Prem Nath Kaul versus Jammu and Kashmir (1959) and Sampat Prakash versus Jammu and Kashmir (1970) on Article 370 were conflicting. However, the Bench said it will refer it to a seven-judge Bench only if was satisfied that there was a direct conflict between two verdicts. The hearing would continue on Thursday.