New Delhi, August 06 2009: Fascination for the olive-green uniform and guns, if not discipline, has made some inroads into Parliament, at least among the young Turks.

While the likes of Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia may not want to jump into the trenches, other MPs like Navin Jindal, Jay Panda, Deepender Hooda and Hamdulla Sayeed are all gung-ho about joining the Territorial Army (TA).

Or at least they claimed so, after getting a presentation on TA � the part-time citizen's force which functions as a "vital adjunct" to the regular Army � in the defence ministry on Tuesday.

A few others like Akhilesh Yadav, son of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, said they were keen but could not take out time, grappling as they are with full-time political battles.

"I was in military school for seven years.

But you know how tough the politics in Uttar Pradesh is.

If I was an aam aadmi, I would have surely joined," said Yadav.

TA is trying to woo as many young MPs as possible to act as its brand ambassadors after getting cricketer Kapil Dev and Malayalam superstar Mohan Lal to don uniforms as 'honorary' Lt-Colonels.

"MPs are a medium through which a larger audience can be addressed in their constituencies and elsewhere," said additional director-general (TA), Major-General K V S Lalotra, at the function presided over by minister of state for defence Pallam Raju and Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor.

Most of the MPs � around 30 attended the special briefing � were clearly excited by the proposal to reduce training time to 30 days for "experts/specialists" to get commissioned into TA, followed by a commitment of only 14 days every year.

"It was my childhood dream to join Army.

Since I am getting the opportunity now, I will join TA.

I have been an avid shooter and fire arms are certainly part of the attraction," said Jindal, an industrialist and MP from Kurukshetra.

"It will be a great motivation if people joining TA get the opportunity to keep firearms for self-defence or sport," added Jindal, who spearheaded the campaign for all citizens to have the right to fly the tricolour.

Added Panda, the Biju Janata Dal MP from Kendrapara in Orissa, "I wanted to join TA ever since I saw Kapil Dev joining it.

I wanted some more details which I got today".

For Hamdulla Sayeed, son of former Union minister P M Sayeed and who represents Lakshadweep as the country's youngest MP, a Territorial Navy would be even more attractive for people from coastal areas.

Then, there were some like Ninong Ering from Arunachal Pradesh, who at 53 was too old to join TA.

"If I am allowed to join, I certainly will...

I come from a state which shares borders with China, Myanmar and Bhutan," he said.

Under the TA system, citizens from all walks of life can volunteer for 'part-time military service' while pursuing their regular professions during peace-time.

In the event of national emergencies, they may be called upon to become 'full-time' personnel to act in a supporting role to regular Army units deployed to meet the country's defence and internal security requirements.

Comment