Converting 61st Cavalry into a tank unit not in sync with Army’s respect for tradition and history

Riders of the Indian Army’s 61st Cavalry Regiment, one of the handful of the remaining unmechanised horse-mounted military units in the world, are set to ride into sunset as the Indian military plans a total transformation of the regiment into a modern, armoured regiment. But many veterans feel it goes against the basic ethos and tradition that the Indian Army is known for.

India’s Independence and the withdrawal of the paramount British power in 1947 sounded the death knell for the erstwhile princely state forces. A large number of these state forces with proud martial legacies were to be disbanded.

Among the select few that were chosen for amalgamation with the Indian armed forces were the Gwalior Lancers, Jodhpur Lancers, Jaipur's Kachchawa Horses, Bikaner’s Dungar Lancers, Alwar’s Mangal Lancers, Bharatpur’s Brijendra Lancers, Mysore Lancers, Patiala Lancers and Saurashtra Horsed Cavalry. But because of economic consideration and automation, the think tank of the Indian Army were not too keen to continue with the horsed cavalry forces.

At this juncture in 1953, then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, who was himself a rider and who understood the usefulness of riding, intervened. Pandit Nehru took personal interest and directed the Army for retention of the horsed cavalry of various state forces. Thus all the state forces in 1953 were amalgamated and were put under the 61stCavalry Regiment as a composite horsed cavalry regiment with its headquarters in Jaipur.

The constituent forces of the 61stCavalry has had a distinguished record in battle including the glorious charge of the Jodhpur Lancers and Mysore Lancers in the Battle of Haifa where they defeated a combined and much bigger force of Turkish, German and Austrian forces. The magnificent ‘blood and guts’ cavalry charge at Haifa has been recognised time and again.

In 1922, the Teen Murti Memorial was created in Delhi by British sculptor Leonard Jennings in honour of the Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad Lancers. In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, formally renamed the iconic memorial as Teen Murti Haifa Chowk. A year earlier, our Prime Minister had especially visited Haifa in Israel to participate in the centenary celebration of the Haifa victory.

However, today, the regiment stands poised to be converted into another armoured regiment. The think tank in the Army Headquarters has decided that in today’s warfare, the utility of horses has lost its space.

The arguments of the pragmatists are logical and need little debate, that a professional Army needs combat power and not ceremony, that support to elitist equestrian sports and polo cannot be justified, that providing equestrian infrastructure to the academies can be provided by the Remount & Veterinary Corps. But what about history, tradition and respect?

“Great institutions do not necessarily always run on cut and dry logic or hardnosed pragmatism. The very foundation of the Indian Army is based on intangible but strong core values of regimentation, tradition and history, apart from a host of other institutional pillars that support this great organization. All these values are deeply ingrained into our DNA. And it is this DNA, it is this ethos and spirit, it is these traditions and sense of history, that made 61stCavalry a unique force.

Why do they run the war museum in the United States and in Europe where people pay a good price to buy tickets to see the museum? The War Museum in London displays the photograph of the great hero of Haifa, Dalpat Singh, who posthumously won the Military Cross for valour,” says Kuldeep Singh Garcha, an Arjuna awardee in polo and a former Commandant of the 61stCavalry in Jaipur.

The 61st Cavalry has also been a nursery for Indian polo and equestrian sports. It has produced 11 Arjuna awardees and a Padmashri. Horsemen from the unit still win laurels and medals in Asian Games.

“It is because of these core values and traditions that we should reconsider the decision to convert 61 Cavalry. The regiment’s history and legacy has made it something unique in the military history of India. The horsed regiment with 250-plus horses would be cheaper than maintaining a tank regiment,” says Arjuna awardee, Asian Games Gold medalist and a former Commandant of the 61stCavalry, Col Rupi Brar.

“The major arguments for retaining the regiment in its present form are simple and straightforward. One, we as a nation, are not so starved for funds or resources that we have to disband a historical unit just to create another regiment. Two, the regiment can be easily trained and equipped for meaningful operational roles like reconnaissance, defence of critical rear area establishment, etc. The Regiment, located at Jaipur, is today primarily ceremonial in nature, though it does have a limited combat role. It has a strong polo team and boasts of some of India’s best international horsemen. It also forms the backbone of equestrian training to cadets of our military academies, an activity which is critical to the development of young boys into soldiers,” says Lt Gen. (Rtd) S R Ghosh, the former General Officer Commanding,Western Command.

Similar sentiments have been expressed by several former commandants of the 61stCavalry like Col Billy Sodhi, Col Pickles Sodhi, Col Bhawani Singh, Col Ram Singh, Col J S Pinka Virk, Col Tarun Sirohi who have all excelled as polo players.

The 61st Cavalry supports in a big way the polo tradition of Jaipur which draws a lot of tourists.

Capt. Amander Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab; Union Minister for Water Resources, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat; BJP MP from Rajasthan Diya Kumari and a host of others have taken up this issue with the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Bipin Rawat, and also with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to get the decision reversed.

One needs to see if the current government and the Indian Army sacrifice tradition and history at the altar of raw pragmatism.