Union Food Processing Minister Chirag Paswan on Wednesday, 1 July 2026, paid homage to Param Vir Chakra recipient and 1965 Indo-Pakistani War martyr Abdul Hamid on his birth anniversary, offering what he described as kotish naman — a salute of a million folds — to the fallen soldier.

Posting on X, Paswan wrote: '1965 ke Bharat-Pak yuddh ke mahanayak Param Vir Chakra se sammanit shaheed veer Abdul Hamid ji ki jayanti par kotish naman' — 'Boundless salutations on the birth anniversary of martyr Abdul Hamid, the great hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war, honoured with the Param Vir Chakra.'

Context

Company Quarter Master Havildar Abdul Hamid of the 4th Battalion, Grenadiers, Indian Army, is among the most celebrated soldiers of the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War. He was killed in action during the Battle of Chawinda in Punjab after single-handedly destroying multiple Pakistani tanks using a recoilless gun mounted on a jeep. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest wartime gallantry decoration.

The Param Vir Chakra, instituted in 1950, has been conferred on 21 recipients in the decades since independence, several of them from the 1965 operations. Hamid's story remains a fixture in school curricula and military lore across India.

Policy Backdrop

The 1965 war lasted from April to September 1965, involving major tank engagements in Punjab and operations in Kashmir and Rajasthan, before concluding with the Tashkent Declaration of January 1966, signed between India and Pakistan to restore the pre-war status quo. The conflict is remembered in India as a test of military resolve against a larger armoured offensive.

Indian political leaders across party lines routinely issue public tributes on the birth and death anniversaries of Param Vir Chakra awardees from the 1965 war. These commemorations reinforce domestic narratives of sacrifice and operational valour, and are considered a non-partisan civic tradition independent of the prevailing state of India-Pakistan bilateral relations.

Stakeholders and Impact

The tribute resonates most directly with Abdul Hamid's family, veterans' communities, and the regimental fraternity of the Grenadiers. For the broader public, such remembrances serve as periodic anchors to the military history of a formative post-independence conflict.

Paswan, who represents Bihar in Parliament and leads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), joins a long line of elected officials who have used social media to keep the memory of 1965 war heroes in public consciousness. Abdul Hamid himself hailed from Dhamupur village in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, and his legacy is particularly revered in that region.

What's Next

Official commemorative events at the National War Memorial in New Delhi and at regimental centres associated with the Grenadiers are typically held around key dates linked to the 1965 war. The Defence Ministry's annual calendar of gallantry-award commemorations may include formal events honouring Hamid and other Param Vir Chakra recipients in the months ahead.

As India's political calendar progresses, tributes of this nature are likely to continue forming a visible thread connecting elected leadership with the nation's military heritage — a practice that transcends party affiliation and speaks to the enduring place of 1965 war heroes in India's national identity.