War hero and Param Vir Chakra (PVC) awardee Lt Col Ardeshir Tarapore (1923-1965) (pictured) has been commemorated with the renaming of an island in the Andaman and Nicobar (AN) archipelago after him. Twenty-one islands of the more than 500 islands were renamed by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on the occasion of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s 126th birth anniversary on January 23, 2023. Other men in uniform and PVC awardees commemorated include Maj Somnath Sharma; Subedar and honorary captain Karam Singh; 2nd Lt Rama Raghoba Rane; Company Havildar Major Piru Singh; and Capt G. S. Salaria.
Tarapore was the commanding officer of the Poona Horse Regiment in Sialkot sector during the 1965 war with Pakistan, notes the website www.nationalwarmemorial.gov.in. "On September 11, 1965, Tarapore’s regiment was counter attacked by the enemy’s heavy armor. The regiment defied the enemy’s charge, held its ground and gallantly attacked Phillora… Despite being wounded, Tarapore refused to be evacuated and led his regiment to capture Wazirwali, Jassoran and Butur-Dograndi… Inspired by his leadership, Poona Horse destroyed 60 Pakistani tanks. However, the lieutenant colonel’s tank was hit by a shell, enveloped in flames and he died a hero’s death.” The brave heart was decorated posthumously.
The PVC (translated as Wheel of Ultimate Bravery) is India’s highest military decoration, awarded for displaying distinguished acts of valor during wartime. Granted for "most conspicuous bravery in the presence of the enemy,” the medal has been awarded 21 times, of which 14 were posthumous and 16 arose from actions in Indo-Pakistani conflicts.
Tanaz Noble, a member of perhaps the only Parsi family in AN told Parsiana on January 25 that "while we acknowledge that majority of the AN islands have English names after English officers, we’ve referred to them by these names for so long it’s difficult for us to easily just start calling them something else.” She felt that the islands could have been (re)named after those who actually had something to do with AN. "Why not rename their own hometowns after the Param Vir Chakra awardees and instead rename these according to those who were actually imprisoned here and suffered here?” she asked.
The PM also unveiled the model of a proposed memorial dedicated to Bose, a nationalist who believed in a militant approach to obtaining Independence, be set up in AN. He said the islands will be a source of inspiration for generations to come, according to news reports. Ross Island in the archipelago had been renamed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep by the PM in 2018.
The islands, in the north-eastern Indian Ocean about 130 km southwest off the coast of Burma, serve as a maritime boundary between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east. Most of the islands are part of AN, a union territory, while the Coco Islands and Preparis Island are part of Burma. Farrokh Jijina