Leave the Army alone

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Leave the Army alone

Wednesday, 03 April 2019 | Pioneer

Leave the Army alone

Adityanath’s description of our forces as Modi’ Sena is a crass attempt at politicising an apolitical and honourable institution

Just as we appreciate the valour displayed by our armed forces in protecting this nation from external threats and internal emergencies, so must we respect their restraint and apolitical stature as they have not attempted to appropriate political space despite provocations and temptations. Yet the very democracy that they safeguard has yielded politicians who use them at their own sweet will for propaganda when they do least in terms of defence policies.  So it is utterly irresponsible of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and the BJP’s poster boy Yogi Adityanath, who is known for his rather aggressive style of campaigning, to throw all semblance of propriety to the winds by calling the Indian Army “Modi’s sena” and by extension implying that national security was the preserve of the muscular government of the day and the Army just did its bidding. Or that brilliance came from the political leadership and not the Army, which has an almost impeccable record of operations regardless of who is in the government. While the Election Commission (EC) is processing the complaint, there can be no negotiation on it. The Indian Army cannot be politicised; it is for the country and its people as a whole. It should embody the ideals that the country stands for and should not be circumscribed by anybody’s narrow considerations. Besides, political parties across the spectrum have come together whenever there has been a national crisis and spoken in one voice. There should not be political one-upmanship over the success of any military operation or escalation of bravado for the sake of it, without thinking of the consequences in global polity.

The BJP, which is clearly playing up national security as its poll adhesive and justifying its ability as the true protector of the nation citing the surgical strikes in Uri and now Balakot, has gone too far in appropriating credit and ended up tarnishing the Army instead. Just a month ago, the EC had to issue a directive proscribing the use of the pictures of IAF’s hero pilot, Capt Abhinandan Varthaman, on banners. Many Army veterans have been consistently writing or appealing to the government that the Army should not be brought to the limelight for the wrong reasons. Just because the serving Armymen are bound by the “rules of silence” does not mean our political parties will speak on their behalf or extract mileage out of their good deeds. True, the Modi government did understand the value of Army veterans as a constituency, engaged with our soldiers on the battlefront — Modi himself spent Diwali with jawans — and pushed the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, though a much diluted variant of the one demanded. The chest-thumping pride in our Army, however, doesn’t match the low priority accorded to it compared to the  all-India civil and police services. Defence budgets continue to be inadequate, there is an urgent  need for operational reforms as well as critical infrastructure and equipment. Still the forces do their best with what they have as evidenced by Capt Abhinandan’s takedown of F-16 with a MiG 21 Bison, which was well past its expiry date but was coopted in an important mission with home-grown upgrades. Yet the Indian armed forces — though its officers today are more aware of the political environment and their utility in it — accept civilian control. The political class or any elected government should remember this before they use them for self-aggrandisement.

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