Lance Naik Albert Ekka was posthumopusly awarded the Param Vir Chakra. Lance Naik Albert Ekka was posthumopusly awarded the Param Vir Chakra.

It was on the intervening night of December 3 and 4, 47 years ago, when Lance Naik Albert Ekka and his men of the 14 Guards Regiment of the Indian Army made the supreme sacrifice while defending the nation against the forces of Pakistan, in the process saving Agartala from a foreign invasion.

The battle which safeguarded Agartala, took place near Gangasagar railway station, 7 Km from the state capital in 1971. LN Ekka was posthumously awarded India’s highest gallantry award the Param Vir Chakra (PVC). To turn the tide of a losing war, Pak Army had planned a surprise attack on Agartala, barely days before they surrendered to General Jagjit Singh Arora on December 16. The battle of Hilli on the eastern frontier has gone down in history as the most crucial battle in the 1971 Indo-Pak War.

Security researcher and author Manas Paul talking about the bravery of PVC Ekka and his men said, “Pakistani forces had set Agartala as the target in 1971 Indo-Pak war, since it was the closest state capital to the international border. It was also the hub of strategic planning for the Liberation War. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited Agartala twice. Occupying this state capital would put Pakistan in an advantageous position. It was for Lance Naik Albert Ekka and his men that Agartala was saved.”

Lance Naik Ekka, Gulab Singh, Kashinath Sahu, David Tigga, Malkiat Singh, Udho Singh, Ramdeo Sahin, Keshar Dev, Dal Singh, Joseph Topno, Shiv Narayan and Durga Prasad – martyred on the fateful night of December 03, were laid to rest here. 47 years later a memorial structure stands in Sripalli village in Dukli in their honour and remembrance.

Memorial of PVC Lance Naik Albert Ekka. Memorial of PVC Lance Naik Albert Ekka.

The Lance Naik’s family visited Sripalli village in January 2016 and collected the “sacred soil” from the land where he was laid to rest.

Born in Bihar in 1942, Albert Ekka was assigned with 14 Guards Regiment of the Indian Army and led the Gangasagar railway station mission. Despite being repeatedly shot, Ekka captured the heavily fortified structure before he fell. Unfortunately, people of Sripalli, have no idea about his death anniversary in 2018. They know who he is, have a slight idea about what he had done, but nobody except Bhuban Das, a 75-year-old veteran, knew Ekka died today.

“We were told that this is a memorial of martyrs from 1971 Indo-Pak War. Lance Naik Albert Ekka was laid to rest here with his men,” Dipankar Sarkar, a local resident said. He didn’t know that PVC Ekka died on December 03 but said that the memorial is cleaned and honoured by hoisting the Tricolour on red-letter days like Republic Day, Independence Day and December 16 – Bangladesh Vijay Diwas. Shanti Das, a housewife from Sripalli village, said she knew the memorial was of some “military” martyrs, but she could not name the martyrs in whose memory it was built, neither when they died.

Bhuvan Das, who was 28 years old when LN Ekka fought and defended Agartala. Bhuvan Das, who was 28 years old when LN Ekka fought and defended Agartala.

“Indian Army personnel who died in the 1971 Indo-Pak war were cremated and their ashes were buried here. A memorial structure was built on it. There are names of 11 martyrs here and one of them was Lance Naik Albert Ekka,” Samir Deb, a motor mechanic, told this correspondent. He also said that Albert Ekka should have been remembered on his death anniversary. “I did not know about his death anniversary. Local elders should have come forward,” Deb said.

Bhuban Das, 75, built the memorial structure with the help from a few locals and the Indian Army personnel who camped near his home during the War. He worked as an informer and helper for Captain Nikhil Bose, who supervised Army mobilization at the camp. Das remembers Lance Naik Ekka as a “hot-headed and daredevil” man with whom he once ran into an argument. But he agrees that Ekka was very brave and “daredevil”.

War for the Liberation of Bangladesh (Operation Cactus Lilly) was a ‘just war.’A classical blitzkrieg,in which in just 14 days #IndianArmy with #IndianAirForce #IndianNavy & #MuktiBahini cut through to Dhaka,the capital of erstwhile East Pakistan.visit: https://t.co/jRpIGoBUBH pic.twitter.com/K4XshihC8W — ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) December 3, 2018

“I was there when they brought the bodies of Ekka and his 10 comrades”, Bhuban remembers, then a 28-year-old youth, he used to work as a contingent worker for a central public sector undertaking. Most workers did not come due to fear of Pakistani shelling, he mused, adding that he would go to the Indian Army camp and help them in lifting ammunitions, ration on trucks which would leave for the war front. He said war memorials of brave soldiers such as Albert Ekka should be shown proper respect and should become one of the centres of the history of Tripura.

Gopal Chandra Das, who purchased a plot of land where Ekka was buried, didn’t have a clue he was living on the resting place of martyrs. “I heard they were cremated somewhere here. Albert Ekka’s family was brought here. They collected some soil from my home. I never knew they were buried or cremated here. I am very proud of living on the place beneath which they were laid to rest”, he said.

Rina Shil, who owned the land before Gopal, said while building mud houses on the land, she and her relatives found solid black stones, which appeared like charred bones. “We didn’t know about all this history. We simply put them back under the soil and piled more soil on top of it. Later, we sold the land. If we knew, we would have never let go of it”, she said.

A programme was held at Albert Ekka Park at Lichubagaan, close to the city this morning, where ruling BJP MLA Dilip Das remembered Ekka.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest North East India News, download Indian Express App.

© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd