Uri attack: If govt does not act, no one will let their own join Army, says sister of martyr

“I will never let any member from my family join the Army again. No money can compensate this loss. Can money bring my brother back?” wails 20-year-old Bulti Ghorai, sister of Sepoy Biswajit Ghorai.

She is seated in their mudhouse in a remote part of Gangasagar in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district. The road to the house has no lights.

Father Rabindranath Gorai says proudly, “Martyrs never die. I have lost my son. I don’t know how we will live, but I must say that I am proud. I know he died for the nation.”

Biswajit, the youngest of two brothers and a sister, had joined the Army 26 months ago. Two of his cousins were in the armed forces and that had inspired him to follow suit. The Ghorai family had mortgaged the little land they had to fund Biswajit’s education and his application for a job in the forces. Biswajit was in the first year of his college when he got the call. The family hoped it would be an end to their financial troubles. Soon after joining Army, he had bought sister Bulti a cellphone. On the same phone, she received the news of his death.

Biswajit was first posted in Bihar. After receiving the order of his new posting at Uri, he had come home for a month-long leave. He left for Uri on August 21. Initially, the family was worried about his posting in Uri, but his last call on Saturday left them relieved. He sounded happy. His body has not reached home yet.

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“The government should act against Pakistan. If they don’t, no one will let their near-and-dear ones join the Army,” says Biswajit’s maternal uncle Satyanarayan Pradhan.