As India mourns the death of Colonel Bikkamalla Santosh Babu, who sacrificed his life fighting for the country, a touching video of the martyered soldier's mother, Manjula has gone viral on the internet today.
The video was widely shared on Twitter along with a photograph of the Colonel’s 9-year-old daughter Abhigna in which she is standing in front of her father’s photo with folded hands.
The viral video of the Colonel's mother, shows her talking about her brave son. In the video, one can see her saying, "As a mother, I am very sad. But, I am also proud that my son sacrificed his life fighting for the country."
Colonel Bikkamalla Santosh Babu, Commanding Officer of the 16 Bihar Regiment lost his life in the violent face-off with Chinese soldiers in Galwan valley area.
After the news broke in, several messages of tributes poured out for the brave soldier on social media. Many people including actor Sunil Shetty shared the video of his mother and condoled his death. Several others were moved by the photograph of Santosh Babu's daughter and shared it.
Check out the reactions here:
While talking about her son's death, the Colonel's mother, told ANI, "We received the news, yesterday afternoon at 2 pm that my son has been martyred. I could not believe that my son has been martyred."
"We are under deep shock, We could not believe it when we got to know about our son. I could not believe it as he was very brave. For the last fifteen years, he had gained success. I immediately inquired from one of the officers. Later, several officers of the Army contacted directly through my phone. They said that they are making arrangements to get the body from that place to Suryapet," Col Santosh's father, Upender, told ANI.
The violent face-off happened on late evening and night of June 15 in Ladakh's Galwan Valley as a result of an attempt by the Chinese troops to "unilaterally change" the status quo during de-escalation in Eastern Ladakh and the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side, India said on Tuesday.
The Army confirmed that 20 soldiers were killed in the face-off including 17 who were critically injured at the stand-off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain.
Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged at the Galwan area in Ladakh where they had earlier clashed on the night of June 15 and 16, Indian Army said.
(With inputs from ANI)
