In what was to be his last conversation with his son, 70-year-old Ram Kishan Grewal asked for a final word with his wife and told his shattered son not to lament his sacrifice for the average Army jawan – a legacy he chose to leave behind in the hope that someone else would follow in his footsteps. At the time of this conversation, the ex-serviceman had consumed multiple tablets of sulfas and was audibly reeling under the after-effects.
( The Hindu cannot independently verify the authenticity of the conversation)
Son: Hello, papa?
Grewal: Son, speak up.
Son: Hello?
Grewal: The thing is I...have consumed poison.
Son: What? What has happened to you?
Grewal: You let that be.
Son: Where are you right now?
Grewal: I am sitting at India Gate...at the Jawaharlal Nehru Museum...No...at this bhavan near India Gate. That’s where I am sitting.
Son: But what is this that you did?
Grewal: It’s not what I did, but what is happening to us, the injustice that is being done to jawans like me...Our jawans didn’t get...what do you call it...they didn’t get justice...I am with other jawans like me...I have given you all the information...we have been pushed to our doom...injustice has been done to us...I am with others like me who have been pushed into catastrophe and I couldn’t watch it and I couldn’t take it and I had to fight it...but now it’s their (the jawans’) fight, it is their job...what they do now is up to them and no longer up to me.
Son: But then what is this decision that you took, papa?
Grewal: What is there to decide in this? Let me talk to your mother for two minutes.
Son: Wait a minute, Papa. How long has it been since you...? How long has it been since you took (the) tablets?
Grewal: It has been five minutes.
Son: How many have you had?
Grewal: I have had two to three tablets.
Son: What tablet was this?
Grewal: It was sulfas. Let me tell you something...Stop crying! We are men of principle...I am a man of principle. I am sacrificing my life for my jawans, for my country, for my motherland, okay? And as far as what I have done is concerned...later there will be someone...whenever there is any injustice done to any HC, GC (jawan) later they will see (what to do about it)...Let me talk to your mother (because) I’m out...Let me talk to your mother.
Son: (Crying) You lost hope...
Grewal: You just let that be...Fine, don’t put her on the phone if you don’t want to...
