Belongs to Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, seat represented in Lok Sabha by Kangana Ranaut
At a time when the country is observing the 25th anniversary of India’s victory over Pakistan in the Kargil War, a martyr’s widow has been struggling to get a statue of her husband installed at a village school in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district.
And that too when Bina Devi, the wife of Sepoy Tej Singh Mastana, who laid down his life fighting the Pakistani intruders during the 1999 Kargil War, has spent from her own pocket to get the statue sculpted.
The martyr belonged to Siyah village of Balh sub-division in Mandi. Incidentally, BJP leader Brig Khushal Chand Thakur (retd), who himself is a Kargil War hero, belongs to Mand. The seat is currently represented in the Lok Sabha by actor-turned-BJP politician Kangana Ranaut. Brig Khushal had unsuccessfully contested the 2021 Mandi Lok Sabha bypoll.
Martyred at the age of 32, Sepoy Tej Singh Mastana was heroically crossing a river amid intense enemy fire during the Kargil War on June 10, 1999, when a bullet hit him fatally.
Bina Devi, now 54, claims she has tirelessly campaigned to have a statue of her husband installed at the Tawa school near her village, but her appeals have fallen on deaf ears. The state government has refused to act, she claims. Despite her personal efforts and expenses, administrative roadblocks have left her noble gesture unacknowledged and incomplete.
Bina Devi, now 54, says she personally funded the creation of the statue and spent Rs 2 lakh on it, hoping to immortalise her husband’s bravery and inspire future generations. However, despite her repeated requests, she laments, the statue remains uninstalled and stored at her home instead of standing proudly in the school.
She maintains that in a distressing twist, the local administration had installed a statue at Siyah on July 5, 2021, which Bina Devi and her family opposed, claiming it did not accurately represent Sepoy Tej Singh Mastana. The incident, she says, underscores the ongoing challenges faced by the family in their quest for proper recognition.
Bina Devi, who raised three daughters and a son, revealed that none of her children have secured government jobs despite all of them being qualified. Her eldest daughter Kusum Lata (32) has completed her GNM (nursing) course, Kamlesh Kumari (30) holds a BSc in nursing, Neha Kumari (28) has done BPharmacy while her son Vipin (26) has completed ITI-Mechanical. The family’s struggle for employment adds to their ongoing hardships.
