Time has come for a public outcry in support
of no politicisation of the armed forces
Prime Ministers will
come and go but Indian Army will remain the final bastion of this nation. Our
defence forces have a long track record of being apolitical and are respected
worldwide for their professionalism. Indian Army is the army of its people and
has always acted to save its citizens from external aggression and internal
disturbances or insurgencies.
Insurgency in Punjab
was controlled largely due to the fact that Indian Army under their Chief
General Bipin Chandra Joshi had cleared all rural areas of militants and had
left the populated urban areas to the Punjab Police. The Chief had decided that
the army would not take any credit but would continue to provide area security
and actionable intelligence to the state police, allow it to take the credit
and re-establish its credibility. That is the mettle Indian Army is made of and
the politicians of all hue and cry must adhere to the opening sentence of the
code of conduct laid down by election commission that clearly states that
politicisation of the army should not be resorted to.
The fire brand Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath in an election rally has remarked that Indian Army is Modi Ji Ki Sena. It is a well-known fact that this CM also had an army of his own. Indian Army is an instrument of the state and does not belong to any political party in or out of power. The credit for giving a political clearance for operating across the Line of Control should rightly go to PM Modi. Again, the credit of placing all instruments of intelligence gathering or monitoring the movement of inimical forces as also tracing the moment of own troops in territory controlled by the enemy must go to the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The credit of planning
and coordinating operations goes to the Director General Military Operations
acting in behalf of Army Chief and the Northern Army Commander. The Corps
Commander was responsible for coordinating and provision of all resources at
his call to support the operation. The actual credit of launching the surgical
strikes across the enemy lines goes to the Commanding Officer, the team
commanders and the troops of Special Forces who went across and risked their
lives and the pilots of Indian Air Force and their base commanders. If the PM,
NSA, the then Army Chief or the Army Commander take credit for launching
surgical strikes, then they are far from the truth. Unfortunately, for this
nation, they are all taking credit, time and again, to gain votes or favours
for plum appointments within and outside the country.
Number of movies and
web shows like Uri and certain others have misguided the nation in showing that
the operational and tactical wisdom flowed down from the PM and the NSA. The PM
and NSA have had no formal training in military matters and are not well equipped
to lay down operational plans. Such operations had been done earlier also but
in a covert manner to impose your will on the erring opponent. The difference
is that this time it was made public and the surgical strikes are being milked
time and again to score browning point against political opponents. It is but
natural that when corned in this issue, the opposition starts doubting the
veracity of the claims and starts asking proof of these operations. Both the
ruling party and the opposition have done ample harm to the credibility of our
armed forces as also the confidentiality of the operational plans.
The time has come when
there needs to be a public outcry in support of no politicisation of the armed
forces. When you talk to the common man on the street he has a lot of respect
for the armed forces. The best way to build nationalism is to have conscription
wherein every abled man and woman does military training for a specific period.
USA and some European nations have had conscription from time to time. Israel
and some of its Arab neighbours still have conscription. It will be argued that
India, because of its burgeoning population, cannot afford to have
conscription. Shall we then lay it down as a legislation that all individuals
aspiring for government jobs and public life must have a compulsory two years
military training? That will cover all future politicians and bureaucrats.
Very systematically,
the bureaucrats and the politicians over the last seven decades have been
bringing down the status of the premier institution of defence forces, in
successive pay commissions. The biggest user of the pay commission, the defence
forces never have had a representative in the pay commission. The Ministry of
Defence has not been integrated with services Headquarters like in all modern
democratic nations and behaves like a higher Headquarters without having any
practical knowledge of matters military. No modernisation has taken place
either in the ten years of UPA government or in the last five years.
The civil military
relations in the county are at its lowest ebb under the present government.
Although in principal, this government has given One Rank One Pay in the
beginning of their tenure, the bureaucracy has successfully insulated the
politicians from the services and have ensured in holding the government from
completing its promises. The rapid changes of Defence Ministers who have been
political light weights shows that the PMO has little time for ensuring true
national security except for resorting to rhetoric and pushing agendas in the
name of national security. This must change with the new government in office
this summer otherwise we will get a rap on our knuckles again like 1962.
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