The Real Gunjan Saxena Hits Back At Those Questioning Her 'Credentials'; Throws An Open Challenge To Anybody Who Refutes The Facts

Ever since Janhvi Kapoor starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl premiered on Netflix, the controversy around the gender inequality in IAF took social media by storm. Recently, IAF expressed their disappointment on the negative portrayal of IAF in the film. However later, the real Gunjan Saxena had revealed that she had the support of fellow officers, supervisors and commanding officers. But in her latest blog, the first IAF pilot Gunjan Saxena has opened up in detail about the controversy. In NDTV's blog, Gunjan Saxena hit back at retired Wing Commander Namrita Chandi, who served in the Indian Air Force with Gunjan and had called out Karan Johar’s Dharma Production for peddling lies and also termed the Janhvi Kapoor starter as a ‘monstrous film’ that has shown the Indian Air Forces officers in very poor light.

Wing Commander Namrita had also written that not Gunjan Saxena, but Srividya Rajan was the first pilot who flew Kargil. Now, Gunjan slamming her interview went on to list down her achievement which are in IAF and public records too. She said, "To list a few -- first in the order of merit during my basic training and also in helicopter training, the first woman to fly in a combat zone (mentioned in the Limca Book of Records), the first 'BG' (a coveted flying category) among women helicopter pilots and the first woman officer to undergo the jungle and snow survival course. There are other small achievements, but those are not of much significance to my story right now." 

Gunjan went on to explain, "The reason why a quiet, reserved person like me is "blowing my own trumpet" is to throw an open challenge to anybody who refutes these facts. All these "firsts" are documented in the records of the IAF. Those were my credentials, my achievements. That is my hard-earned trophy and I will never let anybody with vested interests point a finger at it. One article by a so-called expert on my affairs has even claimed that I was not the first woman pilot in the Kargil war. Now, for all of you reading this absurd propaganda and ranting over the "peddling of lies", there is a humble submission. The author, claiming to protect the image of the IAF for whatever vested interests or hidden agenda, is questioning the very authenticity of the Air Force's stand in 1999 after the Kargil war."

She also wrote, “The moment the movie started streaming on Netflix, so many "Knights" in shining armour outraged over what they called a straight-out attack on the IAF's reputation. Let me assure this clan, the IAF is too big and too respectable a force to even be scratched by the controversy. The IAF as an organization is not into institutional discrimination, be it on gender or anything. I can speak for myself. When I joined there was no discrimination at the organizational level. But yes, individually, no two people are the same and some individuals adapt to change better than others. Since the bias is not at an organizational level, the experiences of different women officers would be different.”

She went on to say that the point she wants to make is that, she has “never highlighted these petty issues in any anti-IAF rant and I will never do so. The movie has not shown my character complaining about the non-availability of toilets. It is important, yes, but too mundane an issue to crib about.”