We love the soldier as much as-if not more than-the scholar, the statesmen and poet.
The soldier embodies in himself the spirit of youth. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose lives in the memory of Indian youth much more perhaps than Tilak, Gandhi or Tagore. The great and glorious part he played in the I. N. A. movement will be cherished by generations to come. The Indian soldier in the British days was a hired mercenary. Now he is a national soldier.
There is no hard and fast line between the so- called martial and non-martial races in the Indian army today. The Indian soldier has earned a great applause during the last two World Wars from the highest quarters. He is the finest specimen of humanity, be a Maratha, a Sikh or a Rajput.
He is the best symbol of the secular character of our country. The soldiers in free India helps in many civilian jobs as well as locust-fighting, crop-cutting, bridge building, road making etc. He has more opportunities than ever before of mixing with common people.
