When after ‘ Har Ghar Tiranga’, it will be ‘ Ghar Ghar Tejas’, for the nation which stands depressingly bruised and divided today, Dr Manas Bihari Verma, the architect of Tejas, the man who lived every singly moment for Mother India, even going to the extent of foregoing his marriage for the sake of bestowing upon India a priceless legacy of Tejas, the light combat aircraft, for boosting the national security, which has caught the global attention today, can re- invigorate the nation as ‘One People’ with ‘ One Nationalistic Vision’. Moreover, he is the best candidate today for Bharat Ratna, the highest Civilian award. This, in addition, will satisfy hitherto the Himalayan aspiration of Mithila and Maithils to be a historic witness to the Bharat Ratna award being Conferred upon someone of their own who showcases the highest credentials for the same as none in the country can dare to match.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: Dr Manas Bihari Verma left us for his heavenly abode on 3rd of June, 2021 in his village Bour, Darbhanga district, Mithila. It was the deadly time of Corona, when the movement of people from one place to another was prohibited. I saw his corpse being taken for cremation for normal health related problem, not engendered by the deadly Corona. I paid my glowing tribute by writing an obituary on the great scientist whose contribution to the nation was second to none; in fact, at par with that of Dr Kalam. Dr Manas Bihari Verma, much like Dr Kalam, led a celibate life, and dedicated his life in the service of the nation. It was in 2015 end, if my memory does not fail me, I had the personal meeting with great scientist at his brother-in-law’s place in Darbhanga. The purpose of a visit to the residence of his brother-in-law where he stayed, was to portray him for my upcoming book The Living Legends of Mithila, the pioneer book on ‘ living legends’. Interestingly, when I had spoken to him for the first time, he, suspecting my call to be a frivolous one, did not evince an interest in meeting me or getting himself portrayed. Thankfully, Dr Dinesh Mishra’s gracious intervention did straighten out the matter for me: I was given the personal audience and consequently landed at his place. I had stayed with him for almost six to seven hours for two consecutive days, and even had a lunch together with him and his doctor brother-in-law. while the lunch was in progress, Manas Babu’s brother-in-law, while taking a dig at him, sarcastically pointing out towards the model of Tejas, kept safely in his cupboard, said, ‘ This is his son, for whom he had given his whole life; even foregoing his marriage’. I smiled, yet Manas Babu, as was his characteristic trait, remained nonchalant, spreading a quiet smile. Once done with our lunch, Manas Babu took me towards Tejas; spreading a beatific smile, with a profound sense of pride, he communicated to me about it in some technical details which I, hailing from non-science background, could not properly comprehend. A sudden recollection of Baba Bharti struck my mind in deluge: how Baba Bharti, a saint, would evince huge pride in beholding his horse, Sultan, Dr Manas Babu too had evinced the same level of pride in espousing for the light combat aircraft which stood in all its grandeur, albeit in its miniaturised version.
Later we sat in a small room, attic like, which was detached from the house, which Manas Babu would use for his personal work. As Manas Babu began unfolding his story, I was fascinated by the name of the school from where he matriculated: Madhepur High School, our block, adjacent to our village, whose headmaster, Lakshmi Babu towered over its destiny for a long time. Significantly, the school which had earned a huge reputation across Bihar, showcased all such modern pedagogy: it had institutionalised essay competition, debates and so many other modern tools for enhancing the skills of the students. Moreover, this school held the distinction of producing the best of IAS officers, Manas Babu’s elder brother, Kailash Bihari Verma too was one of them, apart from scientists, physicists, doctors, engineers and scores of other professionals. Kailash Bihari Verma went on to become the additional chief secretary of Odisha. Manas Babu, in his later part, went on to become the director of DRDO. Subsequently, his best time was to be entrusted with the onerous task of making Tejas, which he did with an aplomb. Small wonder then, the prized, strategic asset of the nation, Tejas, the name given by Ataljee, which was launched in 2003, has evolved itself as the most sought after light combat aircraft in the world today, when countries like USA too appears to be in the race for buying it from India. It now forms the building block of India’s military equipment sale with the prospect to generate thousands of crore worth sales. Incidentally, Tejas being the only prized military asset of India which none of the so-called advanced countries of the world possesses. Also, it fulfills the criteria of ‘Make in India’ of prime minister Modi, as almost 50 percent of its components were produced in India. Unequivocally, Tejas today stands in the same queue as that of the invention of zero and decimal. In fact, the trinity of inventions in India which became the foundation for global advancement of science and technology: Zero, Decimal and now Tejas.
India is not only the country of thousand cuts, it is the land of irony of ironies: whereas the inconsequential politicians’ frivolity continue to make the headlines –see how Laloo family continues to hog the national headlines, even the death of Dr Manas Bihari Verma failed to evoke much of interest, for the reason was simple: This is the country where even coughing by a politician catches the eyebrows of the people, yet the strategic loss of the nation brought about by the demise of Dr Manas Bihari Verma, hardly evokes a national mourning. Paradoxically, the man who plundered the public money in Kolkata like Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee remains in news; whetting our appetite to know more about them–even Partha Chatterjee’s eating Fish and rice in the custody of ED becomes news–but the demise of the prodigious son of the nation, Dr Manas Bihari Verma, who made India indescribably proud in the world, is pathetically given a decent burial; reduced to the pages of history, in fact, even history will seldom do him any justice, for the left liberal seculars have a characteristic antagonism for everything with Indian underpinnings. Small wonder then, Dr Manas Bihari Verma will not make headlines, it would be the social activists with doubtful credentials like Teesta Setalvad would. Worse still, Manas Babu hailing from Mithila, a backward part of the nation, too, has gone to his disadvantages, for the lobbying has been crucial for the awards when men like Manas Babu would seldom approve of: The man who quietly retired to his village Bour in Darbhanga, and began teaching the illiterates in the night school he founded, apart from supervising the dissemination of scientific knowledge across the rural schools, under Kalam foundation, had little time for any extraneous things.
With the benefits of hindsight, Mithila has to rise to the occasion to seek its own pound of flesh: to seek Bharat Ratna for Dr Manas Bihari Verma, especially when this land of Janak, Yajnavalkya and Sita continues to languish at the bottom of scholarly and national recognition. Moreover, Mithila over decades, albeit for the first time, can boast of someone whose credentials for claiming the highest Civilian Award has no parallel in the country today. Especially when Tejas has been increasingly catching the global attention, Manas Babu’s unparalleled contribution needs to be celebrated by the government of India too, by bestowing upon him the much deserved Bharat Ratna award. This will also lead to the fulfillment of the long standing aspirations of Mithila and Maithils to be accorded its due by felicitating one of their prodigious sons as Bharat Ratna. Moreover, Bharat Ratna, barring exceptions, continues to remain the prerogative of politicians and, therefore, it is the high time that this highest Civilian Award is to be insulated from the overwhelming grip of the politicians and bestowed upon the real deserving hero of the nation. No wonder, today none stands more qualified today to warrant a Bharat Ratna posthumously than Dr Manas Bihari Verma who brought glory to India across the globe as none has after Dr Kalam.
Significantly, after ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’, it is the time to engulf the nation in greater upsurge of nationalistic deluge. And, the nationalistic fervour comes from the one whose contribution to the nation remains acceptable to one and all. Dr Manas Bihari Verma fits the bill as none: his every second of life remained dedicated to securing mother India from outside invasions. He gave us Tejas, which remains an object for envy for our adversaries as well as our friends. An aircraft barely of 650 kg can do wonders, which has taken the world by surprise. Little wonder then, Dr Manas Bihari Verma’s spectacular showcasing has once again brought to the fore India’s ancient scientific glory. Thus it is the time to change; a time to reverse the nation’s attention away from ongoing frivolities into that of something genuine; our real hero who can be coveted by one and all beyond religious identity. Tejas has made the nation proud of its contemporary glory and therefore the nation should celebrate it with ‘ Ghar Ghar Tejas’. This campaign if unfolded with bang, will lead to the correction of anomalies which stand institutionalised in the polity. This will also enable the hero who laid a life in incognito, to get the nationwide recognition posthumously. Also, his illustrious life, which is encapsulated in The Living Legends of Mithila, should form the part and parcel of the syllabus of our students in the secondary class. Let the nation spearhead the campaign of ‘ Ghar Ghar Manas Bihari Verma’ to uplift the nation out of its sombre mood and recast the people around the hero whose every second was meant for his fellow citizens and Mother Bharti.
Vivekanand Jha is an author of The Living Legends of Mithila, the pioneer book on ‘ Living Legends’, where he had portrayed the glorious life of Dr Manas Bihari Verma.
He has undertaken the journey to write The Living Legends of Mithila –part 2.
