Agniveers dying on duty don’t get ‘shaheed’ status, says Rahul Gandhi. But can they?

In his maiden speech as the LoP in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi complained that fallen Agniveers don’t get the status of “martyrs” or “shaheed”. What has been the government’s stand on the matter?

Amid an acerbic attack by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on the ruling BJP and PM Modi, and strong counterattack from the treasury benches, the Congress leader alleged that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was not keen on acknowledging the Agniveers dying in the line of duty as “martyrs”. He said, “An agniveer from a poor family was martyred in a landmine blast. I am calling him a martyr. But the government does not acknowledge him as a martyr. Narendra Modi won’t call him a martyr. Modi calls him Agniveer. His family won’t get the pension. His family won’t get compensation. He won’t get the status of martyr.” The MPs, including ministers, from the ruling coalition rejected Rahul Gandhi’s allegations as misleading claims, challenging him to authenticate that Agniveers who laid down their lives didn’t receive compensation from the government. However, this “martyr” or “shaheed” debate around the fallen soldiers, who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty is not new. It was hotly debated even when the Congress was in power. In 2013, the government said that there was no provision to declare a fallen soldier a martyr. The Manmohan government said it in May 2013 The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government headed by Manmohan Singh was entering its final year in 2013, when the issue of according a “martyr” status to fallen soldiers became an emotive issue. It happened against the backdrop of demands for — with then Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde raising hopes of — a martyr status for Sarabjit Singh, the Indian national who was executed in Pakistan in 2013 on charges related to terrorism which he and the Indian government denied. Weeks after Shinde’s promise of getting the “martyr” status for Sarabjit Singh, the Manmohan Singh government clarified in May 2013 that there were no such plans under its consideration. It categorically said that the status of martyrs would not be accorded to those who lay down their lives in the line of duty. For long, police officers had been demanding martyr status for cops killed in action. Their demand was also denied. Home ministry officials were quoted in various media reports as saying that the issue had been examined at various levels but “there is no provision under any government rule to notify martyrs”. Martyrs appear in the only official document — a 1980-version of the freedom fighters pension scheme — that refers to people who died or were killed for participating in the “national movement for emancipation of India”. However, repeated demands for according the “martyr” status to Bhagat Singh, the young Indian revolutionary who was executed by the British colonial government, were not met for the lack of legal provisions in India. Modi government maintained the same stand December 2015 A year after the Modi government came to power, the Union home ministry in a reply to Lok Sabha on December 22, 2015, said that the defence ministry had informed it that the word “martyr” was not used in reference to any of the casualties in Indian armed forces. “Similarly, no such term is used in reference to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles (AR) personnel killed in action or on any operation,” then-Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, now the parliamentary affairs minister, had said in the written reply. The same stand was reiterated by the government in the Rajya Sabha in December 2021. When an RTI applicant reached the CIC, March 2017 The defence and home ministries told the Central Information Commission, in response of an RTI applicant approached the Union home minister seeking to know the detailed definition of “shaheed” (martyr) according to the law and Constitution, that there was no term as “martyr” or “shaheed” in the Army or the police. The applicant approached the CIC complaining that the ministries didn’t give a satisfactory reply. Information Commissioner Yashovardhan Azad said, “The respondent from the Ministry of Defence stated that the word ‘shaheed’ or ‘martyr’ is not used by the MoD. Instead the one used is ‘battle casualty’. The respondent from the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that in the MHA the word used is ‘operations casualty’.” Rahul Gandhi tweets his demand after Pulwama, February 2019 Following the Pulwama terror attack, Rahul Gandhi demanded the status of “shaheed” to CRPF soldiers killed in the incident on the Jammu-Srinagar highway since it was not yet available. He tweeted, “We must recognise the sacrifices of our paramilitary forces, like the CRPF & award their martyrs the title of “Shaheed”. Even if the PM’s ego will not allow him to act on my request, I hope he will act on the SC’s order for better pay to the Paramilitary.” The BJP’s Amit Malviya replied, “There is no term as ‘martyr’ or ‘shaheed’ in the Army or the police, instead a soldier or a policeman killed in action is called a ‘battle casualty’ or ‘operations casualty’ respectively. This has been settled long ago. Rahul Gandhi is a compulsive liar.” The Army communique to its Commands, February 2022 The Army headquarters issued a letter to all its Commands on the incorrect use of the term “martyr” for soldiers who fell in the line of duty, which it said “may not be appropriate”. Martyr refers to a person who suffers death as a penalty for refusing to renounce a religion or a person who suffers very much or is killed because of their religious or political beliefs,” the letter dated February 2, 2022, said. It said that “the continued reference to Indian Army soldiers as martyrs may not be appropriate”. The letter listed six alternative terms that can be used for fallen soldiers. These are — killed in action, laid down their lives, supreme sacrifice for the nation, fallen heroes, Indian Army braves and fallen soldiers. Who actually were martyrs and shaheeds? Both became popular with episodes of crusade. The term “martyr” has its origin in an ancient Greek dialect. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church traces it to the New Testament, defining “martyr” as a “witness”, saying it was first used for the Apostles in the sense that they had witnessed Jesus Christ’s life and resurrection. As it happened that early Christians were persecuted for adopting the new religion, the term “martyr” was also applied to them. In effect, the word eventually became the term to identify a person who had died for his belief in Christ. “Shaheed”, on the other hand, is an Arabic-origin word “shaheed” and in the Quran, it is used frequently in the sense of “witness”. Oxford Bibliographies says that “shaheed” is a person who suffers or dies on his own volition for the sake of affirming the truth of a belief system. This connection with religious wars or persecution has been a strong argument against enacting a law in India for according the status of “martyr” or “shaheed” to the country’s fallen soldiers, who laid down their lives in the line of duty.