OUR CORRESPONDENT
MANGALDAI: If you've never seen, met or known a person and yet you feel terribly empty within on their death, great chances are there that that person belonged to the Indian Armed Forces. This level of unparalleled and unprecedented connect can only be generated by a man in uniform! And this feeling has been felt in the minds of each and every citizen of India at the unexpected demise of a worthy son of the motherland, a brave soldier with patriotism in his blood- the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat along with his wife and 11 persons on board in a helicopter crash on December 8.
Jahangir Alam- a progressive farmer of village Bihudiya near Kharupetia in Darrang district though was not at all connected with the departed CDS, but could not control his tears from trickling down his cheek. Talking to The Sentinel with a heavy heart over the phone, another progressive farmer Habib Rahman also expressed his feeling of profound grief and pain and deep shock. Mridul Kalita-a young social activist of Deomornoi in Darrang district- too felt the same feeling of pain and deep shock.
On the other hand, all the members of office bearers of Mangaldai Media Circle- an organization of media persons of the district- too joined the country in mourning the unexpected demise of CDS General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 persons in a plane crash. Office bearers of Mangaldai Media Circles enjoyed the rare opportunity to closely interact with General Rawat twice.
On June 10 of 2018, office bearers of Mangaldai Media Circle, namely president Hitesh Hazarika and secretary Mayukh Goswami, led by adviser Bhargab Kumar Das (correspondent of The Sentinel), met the General Bipin Rawat at Red Horns Division at Rangiya and apprised him of the significance and historic importance of the supreme sacrifice of the 140 Krishak Swahids at the peasants uprising at Pothorughat on January 28, 1894 and offered a cordial invitation to grace the Krishak Swahid Divas celebration as the chief guest, to which he readily accorded his consent. The then General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Eastern Command, Lt Gen Abhay Krishna, the then GOC of Gajaraj Corps Lt Gen Gurpal Singh Sangha and the then GOC of Red Horns Division Maj Gen PS Behl were also present. In that meeting that lasted for 32 minutes General Rawat gave a patient hearing to the media persons. But with his untimely demise, the dream of his visit to Pothorughat will remain a dream only! Earlier on June 10 of 2017, adviser Bhargab Kumar Das got an opportunity to interact closely with General Bipin Rawat at a function at Indian Military Academy, Dehradun
"The untimely demise of General Rawat is a great loss to the country as he was a courageous soldier with the spirit of patriotism true to the sense, yet with a very simple lifestyle.
It was a highly privileged moment for the office bearers of Mangaldai Media Circle to accord a warm welcome with a phulam Bihuwan to our loving General at Rangiya and to interact with him very intimately," said president of Mangaldai Media Circle, Hitesh Hazarika while talking to The Sentinel.
Also Watch: