According to the "New India Express" reported on January 25, local time, an Indian government source recently revealed in an interview that the Indian government is currently discussing the posthumous award of the "Great Warrior" medal to the late Indian officer Santosh Babo on the 2021 Republic of India Day (that is, January 26, local time).
The "Great Warrior" medal is currently the second largest honor of the Indian army, and along with the indian army's first honor, the "Ultimate Warrior Medal" and the third honor "Victory Medal", the indian army's first honor. Since gaining independence from British colonists, only 219 people in Indian history have been awarded the Order of the Great Warrior, 74 of whom were posthumously honoured.
Santosh Bab, who was posthumously awarded the "Great Warrior" medal by the Indian government, was a colonel commander of the 16th "Bihar Regiment" of the Indian Army. Born in 1983, Bab died on June 15, 2020 in the border area of Leh City in northern India. According to the Indian side, The Bab was on a military mission code-named Operation Snow Leopard when he died.
The so-called "Operation Snow Leopard" in India's mouth is actually a provocative move by the Indian army to cross the line and openly infringe on the territorial sovereignty of its northern neighbors. However, the final result of this provocation was extremely bitter for the Indian government and army, because the Indian troops involved not only did not take half advantage of the powerful neighboring countries' armies, but also lost a lot of troops. The commander Babu, who took the lead in provoking the trouble, panicked in the process of being counterattacked by his opponents, so that he rolled down the hill and fell to his death.
Along with them, about 20 Indian officers and soldiers were killed. Like Babu, they either fell to their deaths or drowned while fleeing, or died of injuries because they did not receive effective care from the Indian army. Most of these Indian officers and soldiers who died also came from the "Bihar Regiment".
Considering the actions of Bab and the "Bihar Regiment" led by him, the Indian government posthumously awarded the Indian army the second honor for such a figure, which is inevitably a bit of black humor no matter how you look at it. Especially considering that the name of this honor is also called the "Great Warrior" Medal, unless the Indian government understands the words "great" and "warrior" differently from the normal context, or simply assumes that "provocation fails, escape and falls to death" can also be counted as "battle record", it is really hard to imagine that the Indian government would award such a medal to such a person.
Although it seems to be beyond the comprehension of normal people, the Indian government has not done such a thing as "happy and funeral" such as awarding senior medals to the generals of the defeated army. In 2019, the Indian government also awarded indian pilot Abinandan Vitaman the "Victory Medal", the third largest honor of the Indian army, on the grounds that "Abnandan performed well in the air competition against the Pakistan Air Force on February 27, 2019".
However, it is intriguing that Abhinantan was fortunate to receive the "Victory Medal" not because he really achieved any decisive results in the 2.26 air battle, but because the Indian Air Force needed to find a suitable foothold for their previous claims in order to give an account to the domestic people. In the words of an Indian Ministry of Defence source, Abhinantan qualified for the Victory Medal because the MiG-21 bison he was flying "shot down" a Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter before it was shot down.
But this statement itself is a paradox. With the exception of Indian officials and some Indian media, as of now, most bystanders around the world who are concerned about this matter are dismissive of the Indian Air Force's so-called "MiG-21 bison shooting down the F-16". Moreover, the Pakistani side has also disclosed relevant evidence to refute the Indian side's statement, and also invited US personnel to inspect the F-16 fleet in active service. The results of the inspection proved that the Pakistani F-16 was not less. This means that Abhinandan either shot down something else in the 2/26 air battle, or the Indians lied about it.
In other words, Abbinantan's Victory Medal was not recommended because it shot down the F-16, but rather that the Indian government arranged such a "funeral joy" antics for Abbinandan in order to "prove that" it had indeed shot down an F-16, just as they posthumously awarded the "Great Warrior" medal to Bab today.
Proofreader: Cao Baiying