Kataria Guns the Engine at MLF 2025: ‘Next Year, I Lead the Bravehearts Ride!’
From Op Sindoor’s thunder to AI-driven air wars, Chandigarh’s Military Literature Festival opens with a Governor’s dare, a British salute, and a wake-up call for India’s defence renaissance.
CHANDIGARH, 07 NOV 2025
The Lake Sports Complex throbbed with khaki pride this evening as Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria kick-started the 9th Military Literature Festival and, in one roaring breath, accepted a dare to spearhead next year’s Bravehearts Motorcycle Ride. The 81-year-old, once an RSS pracharak who thundered across Rajasthan on a Bullet, grinned at the sea of uniforms and wide-eyed schoolkids: “Reserve the lead bike for me. Helmet size XL.”
He called MLF the nation’s “patriotism syringe” for Gen-Z. “Feed our youth the full saga of blood, sweat and steel,” he thundered. “Only then will Viksit Bharat 2047 stand unbreakable.” Kataria hailed Operation Sindoor as the moment the world finally saw India’s claws and saluted Punjab’s endless roll-call of war heroes. To fan the flame wider, MLF roadshows will now thunder into Amritsar and Ferozepur, letting border teens touch tanks and dream dog-tags.
Inside the packed auditorium, the air-power panel dropped harder bombs. Lt Gen Raj Shukla (retd) shredded sacred cows: ISRO is a space tourist, not a war machine. HAL chiefs get two-year pit stops to chart 40-year flight paths. Without cyber, space and AI jackets, our jets are expensive kites. “Pakistan is turbo-charging its air force with Chinese and American steroids,” he warned. “We need a surgical strike on our own structural deformities, budget-agnostic, culture-first.”
Air Marshal (Dr) Rajeev Sachdeva flashed slides of 1947 airlifts that saved Srinagar and insisted on seamless infantry-air marriage. Moderator AVM Anil Golani distilled it: precision, lethality, reach, no negotiations.
Across the aisle, Maj Gen John Kendall’s British delegation traced 200 years of shared bayonets, from Waterloo to World War trenches. A young NCC cadet whispered, “Our grandfathers fought together?” The Brit smiled: “Still do, in spirit.”
The three-day menu promises more fire. Tomorrow marks the diamond jubilee of the 1965 war, dissects the Af-Pak cauldron and pivots to Iran. Sunday unleashes drone swarms, cyber shields and women in combat. Daily joyrides, T-90s, gyro-copters, VR dogfights, turn spectators into recruits.
As tricolour floodlights faded, a lone bagpiper played “Saare Jahan Se Achha.” Outside, Class-11 girls queued for selfies atop a 45-ton Arjun tank. One tugged Kataria’s sleeve: “Sir, reserve one Bullet for me too!” Mission half-won, Governor. Half-won.
