Akhilesh Yadav, son of former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, had to wait at South Block entry gate after he reached late for a Territorial Army function
Akhilesh Yadav, son of former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, had to wait at South Block entry gate after he reached late for a Territorial Army function
Politicians in India believe everything runs according to their schedule but the Army is beyond their whims and fancies.
Member of Parliament Akhilesh Yadav was made to learn it the hard way when he was made to wait outside the South Block where he went to attend a special presentation by the Territorial Army, along with some other parliamentarians. 
Ironically, Akhilesh's father Mulayam Singh Yadav is a former Defence Minister having his office at the same building at the Raisina hill.
The interactive session-cum-presentation by the TA was specially organised for the young parliamentarians to create awareness among them about the force. Akhilesh reached South Block almost half an hour late from the scheduled time at 12 noon. Not knowing the gate through which the entry arrangements for the participants were made, the group landed at the main entry point at Gate No-2.
"We had made a special entry arrangement for them at Gate No 9 and our officials waited there with readymade passes and other requirements," said a ministry of defence official.
Though they all were dressed in their customary attire of crisp white kurta-payjama the security personnel manning the gate refused them entry. However, instead of any ugly scenes, the young MPs made light of the reported lapse in the arrangement.
"Arey hum to bade class se ho kar aa rahe hain. Parliament chhod kar aana waise bhi badi baat hai," said one of them, trying to bring the alert guards at ease.
Akhilesh too seemed to be enjoying his time and waited patiently at the reception centre. Meanwhile, the message spread soon that some parliamentarians are being kept waiting and a senior defence ministry official rushed in to escort them to the conference room.
But, all of them were not late. Those who were already inside the conference room showed keen interest in the functioning of the TA.
Naveen Jindal, MP from Kurukshetra who promised to join TA at the earliest, wanted to know whether the TA officials are allowed to keep private weapons or not. Hamadullah Saeed, son of former Lok Sabha deputy speaker PM Saeed, did not even know that a force by the name of Territorial Navy exists.
"He belongs to Lakshdweep and a Territorial Navy would of course make more sense to him," said an official.
But he too seemed enthusiastic about donning the olive green uniform.
Minister of state for defence Pallam Raju expressed his happiness over the enthusiasm of the young parliamentarians to join TA. Prominent among others who attended the conference were Deepinder Singh Hooda, Hemanand Biswal, Nilesh Rane, Jay Panda and Kalikesh Singh Deo.
Terriers in action
Territorial Army units were actively involved in military operations in 1962, 1965 and 1971 . The "Terriers" have also taken part in Operation Pawan in Srilanka, Operation Rakshak in Punjab & J&K, Operation Rhino and Operation Bajrang in the North East. Departmental units came to the aid of the civil authorities during industrial unrest and natural calamities, most famous being earthquake in Latoor (Maharastra), Uttarkashi in Garhwal Himalaya and the super cyclone in Orissa. The Ecological units have arrested man made environmental degradation by planting 2.5 crore trees over 20,000 hectare of land in Mussoori Hills & Pithoragarh (UP), Bikaner & Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) and ravines of Chambal in Madhya Pradesh.
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