Capt. Jintu Gogoi

Guwahati, July 18: When Capt. Jintu Gogoi lay down his life on June 30, 1999, fighting Pakistani intruders in Kargil, he had sparked off a socially significant chain of events back home in Assam.

It was a time when Ulfa had given an open call to the people of the state to back the Kargil intruders. But the people backed Jintu and India.

When the mortal remains of the young soldier — he was just 28 — arrived home a few days later, every inch of space on either side of the road from Jorhat airport to Khumtai in Golaghat was packed with people shouting “long live Jintu Gogoi”.

Tomorrow, the brave son of the soil will be posthumously awarded Assam’s highest bravery award, the Bir Chilarai Award, instituted by the state government. It is, perhaps, in the fitness of things that the award, to be received by the young officer’s parents, is named after Chilarai, one of Assam’s most daring military generals who is known to have swooped down on his enemies like a kite.

“As the father, I cannot but feel proud of what my son did. It is what every soldier aspires to achieve,” Jintu’s father, Thagiram, a retired air force employee, said here today. He is in the city for the award function to be held at Rabindra Bhavan tomorrow morning.

Gogoi told The Telegraph that it would be a great honour for the family to receive the award on behalf of his son. “My family was expecting a recognition from the Assam government. We are grateful for the award,” he said.

He said a memorial complex was being built at Khumtai, which would display “all his personal belongings including his books, army uniform and photographs”.

A public meeting hall will also be inaugurated in Jintu’s memory on July 26, which is observed as Kargil Divas every year to commemorate the victory in the Kargil war. Khumtai, a nondescript township in Golaghat district, has become a pilgrimage site after Jintu’s “sacrifice” and people from far off places in the state visit the small house of the Gogois to pay their respects to the brave son of the soil.

Capt. Gogoi was decorated with the Vir Chakra for the courage he displayed while leading his troops to evict the enemy from Kala Pathar in the Batalik sector.

Despite heavy firing from the enemy, Jintu had moved ahead and sprayed bullets on the enemy. He killed two enemy soldiers before being brought down by a burst of enemy bullets.

Just a day before he fell in the battlefield, Jintu had written to his father, “The war was well done. Nothing known about my next visit”.

A few days later, home they brought the warrior dead. And the bugle sounded, “Oh captain, my captain...”.