'Nationhood Before Motherhood': Lt Harveen Kaur Adorns Uniform After Soldier Husband Lost His Life In Line Of Duty

In October, the Indian Army welcomed 186 officers, including 151 gentlemen cadets and 35 women cadets. The induction took place after a passing out parade held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu at the Officers Training Academy (OTA). Tweeting a video of Lieutenant Harveen Kaur from this ceremony, Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal praised the officer for overcoming challenges in her life and determinedly serving the country.

Following In Her Husband's Footsteps

Lt Harveen Kaur lost her husband, Major KPS Kahlon, in the line of duty in 2019. She was five months pregnant at the time. Post his demise, Kaur took it upon herself to be the one from her family who serves the nation. She joined the OTA in Chennai, and after eleven months of rigorous training, she overcame all hurdles to adorn the uniform. She wanted to follow in the footsteps of her husband, who was an artillery officer of the 129 SATA Regiment.

In the video shared by Swati, originally posted by the Defence Public Relations Officer, Chennai's official Twitter handle, Kaur can be seen talking about her journey. In the video, she states that she is proud of herself and that her late husband would have been very proud of her. "I know he is seeing me from wherever he is", she expressed.

Speaking about her training, she said that the training phase was nice because of her batchmates, who "were more like a family". She concludes by saying that the hard work and challenges are all worth it at the end of the day.

Nation First For Harveen

Further, when Kaur was asked to choose between motherhood or nationhood, as she held her son Anhadbir Singh in her arms, Kaur responded saying, "For now, it is nationhood and then it is motherhood. Now I am in uniform; nothing comes before me other than the nation. My son is after the nation."

When asked if her son would join the army, Kaur states that he is too young and will decide his future himself. "I won't be taking any decisions for him. But I think this army thing will be in the blood. He has not seen his father, but I know that inspiration will be in him", she says. She adds that while her son has never seen his father, she wants to be the kind of parent figure that he can look up to and picture what his father was really like.

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