The Indian Army's Greatest Tragedy!
In the mad race to boost circulation and viewer ratings, the media may
have, in one go, started the process of demolishing one of the last
institutions that has stood rock solid in defence of idea that is
India, says NDTV's Security and Strategic Affairs Editor Nitin
Gokhale.
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In my three decades of reporting on the Indian military, I have never
felt more uneasy about the military-media interface as I have in the
past three months.
This is not because the media has been accused of being sensationalist
or because many unsavoury truths about internal rivalry and groupism
in the military brass have created bad blood in the top hierarchy.
My unease stems from the damage that the events of the past few months
have inflicted on the average Indian soldier.
For at least a quarter of a century now, we have been lamenting the
steadily diminishing status of the ordinary Indian soldier in society;
that soldiering is no longer respected as a noble profession in our
rural areas; that the jawan struggles to get his due from a civil
administration increasingly contemptuous and apathetic towards him;
that he continues to get paid poorly and treated unfairly by a society
solely driven by materialism.
Now, following a spate of reports based on half-truths and outright
lies, motivated by God alone knows what, we may have done the ultimate
disservice to the Indian soldier: Planted the seed of suspicion about
his loyalty in the minds of ordinary Indians.
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The ultimate disservice to the Indian soldier
While I will defend the right of every media person to report what he
or she thinks is right, I am afraid none of us has thought through the
consequences of the effect it will have on the psyche of the Indian
soldier and, more importantly, the way ordinary Indians will view the
Indian Army.
In the mad race to boost our circulation and viewer ratings, we may
have, in one go, started the process of demolishing one of the last
institutions that has stood rock solid in defence of the idea that is
India.
For the first time in my now reasonably long career in journalism, I
feel like hiding from my friends in the military.
I feel we have not paused to think about the long-term damage we have
wrought upon the profession of soldiering.
While all dramatis personae are equally culpable in the current
controversy, we in the media certainly have a greater responsibility
not to add fuel to the fire.
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The Army is India's Brahma Asthra
I say this because from disaster relief in floods, tsunamis and
earthquakes, to rescuing an infant Prince from a deep tube well and
from quelling rioters in communal strife to being the last resort in
internal counter-insurgency operations, the Indian Army has been
omnipresent.
It is, what I call, India's Brahma Asthra (the ultimate weapon).
The Indian Army's versatility, adaptability, selfless attitude and
resourcefulness has allowed it to be what it is today: Nation
Builders.
Viewed in the context of India's immediate and extended neighbourhood,
the Indian Army's stellar role stands out in stark contrast to its
counterparts in other countries.
Remember, the Indian and Pakistani armies originated from the same
source, the British army. Yet, six decades since they parted ways,
there couldn't be a bigger dissimilarity in the way the two have
evolved.
As they say, India has an army while the Pakistani army has a nation!
More importantly, despite India's increasing dependence on its army to
pull its chestnuts out of fire time and again, the Indian Army has
scrupulously remained apolitical.
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A systematic assault on the Indian Army
The Indian Army's contribution in nurturing and strengthening
democracy with all its faults can never be underestimated.
It has put down fissiparous and secessionist forces within India at
great cost to itself over the last 60-odd years. It has protected
India from within and without.
The Indian Army also has a unique distinction of helping create a
nation (Bangladesh) in the neighbourhood and then quietly walking away
to let the people take charge.
In contrast, the Pakistani army has never really allowed democracy to
flourish in its country. Instead, it has created a military-industrial
complex that has spread its tentacles in every aspect of governance.
Even today, the Pakistani army does not let go of any opportunity to
undercut democracy; it nurtures and treats jihadi elements as its
strategic asset against India and the United States.
Even in other smaller nations around India -- Nepal, Myanmar and
Bangladesh, for instance -- the armed forces have had to intervene and
run the affairs of those countries at some point.
The Indian Army has also withstood systematic assaults on its status
from politicians and bureaucrats who are forever looking for ways to
downgrade the military's status.
While the principle of civilian supremacy over the armed forces is
well entrenched and understood in India, what is incomprehensible is
the constant chipping away at the military's standing.
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The Army, the civilian and the politician
The nation as a whole, and indeed the people at large, have the
highest regard and affinity for the men in uniform for the yeoman
service they render in every conceivable situation.
However, most mandarins at the ministry of defence and some
politicians do not have the same opinion and are repeatedly trying to
run down the military without realising the immense damage they cause
to the only available bulwark we have against any attempt to Balkanise
India.
Now, unfortunately, even we in the media seem to have joined this ill-
informed and devious bunch of opportunists.
As a former chief of the army staff, General S Padmanabhan, says in
his book, A General Speaks, 'Even after Independence, India's
political leaders found it convenient to keep the Army, Navy and the
Air Force out of the policy-making bodies. The service HQs were left
at the level that the British left them -- that of being attached
offices of the ministry of defence. Even at the level of defence
minister and service chiefs, exchanges on major matters of defence
policy were few and far in between.'
Another former army chief, General Shankar Roy Choudhury, has
observed: 'It is essential in the national interest that the armed
forces are upgraded and updated on an ongoing basis, something which
governments have been traditionally loath to acknowledge and
undertake, the Indian government perhaps more so than others in this
respect.'
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We must back the nation's strongest asset
Historically, it is to the credit of the Indian Army that it has
fulfilled its role as an organ of the State; it has functioned
effectively in every type of role, in spite of the general lack of a
supportive government environment by way of adequate finances,
resources, equipment, personnel policies, or higher political
direction.
A nation's military provides what is called a hard-edged back-up to
its international standing.
A strong military -- and especially a powerful, well-trained, fully-
equipped army -- acts as a deterrent against adversaries.
It is therefore essential that the nation's decision-makers
consciously back the army and provide it with the support it needs to
meet diverse challenges that exist and are likely to come up in the
coming decade.
So far, the Indian Army has fulfilled its role in nation building
admirably well.
All of us -- ordinary citizens, media persons, politicians,
bureaucrats -- must continue to back the nation's strongest asset and
further strengthen it, if we desire to see India as a global player in
the decades to come.
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The Army is vital for India's survival
Centuries ago, Kautilya, the wily old strategist, told Emperor
Chandragupta Maurya why the soldier is important for the kingdom's
survival.
If India has to survive as a nation-state, this advice (reproduced
from a piece written by Air Marshal S G Inamdar for the USI Journal)
is worth repeating in its entirety here.
As the learned air marshal says: 'It is amazing how clearly those
ancients saw the likely faultlines in governance, the intricacies of
management of the military by the state functionaries, the nature of
the military and the citizenry and the close interplay between them
all. It is truly amazing how those observations continue to be so
completely relevant today, even after 2,000 years.
'Here's what Kautilya told the king of Magadh:
'The Mauryan soldier does not himself the royal treasuries enrich nor
does he the royal granaries fill.
'He does not himself carry out trade and commerce nor produce
scholars, thinkers, litterateurs, artistes, artisans, sculptors,
architects, craftsmen, doctors and administrators.
'He does not himself build roads and ramparts nor dig wells and
reservoirs.
'He does not himself write poetry and plays, paint or sculpt, nor
delve in metaphysics, arts and sciences.
'He does not do any of this directly as he is neither gifted, trained
nor mandated to do so.'
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What the soldier does for his nation
The soldier only and merely ensures that:
'The tax, tribute and revenue collectors travel far and wide unharmed
and return safely;
'The farmer tills, grows, harvests, stores and markets his produce
unafraid of pillage and plunder;
'The trader, merchant and moneylender function and travel across the
length and breadth of the realm unmolested;
'The savant, sculptor, painter, maestro and master create works of
art, literature, philosophy, astronomy and astrology in peace and
quietitude;
'The architect designs and builds his Vaastus without tension;
'The tutor (acharya), the mentor (guru) and the priest (purohit) teach
and preach in tranquility;
'The sages (rishis, munis and tapaswis) meditate and undertake
penance in wordless silence;
'The doctor (vaidyaraja) tends to the ill and the infirm well, adds to
the pharmacopoeia, discovers new herbs and invents new medical
formulations undisturbed;
'The mason, the bricklayer, the artisan, the weaver, the tailor, the
jeweller, the potter, the carpenter, the cobbler, the cowherd
(gopaala) and the smith work unhindered;
'The mother, wife and governess go about their chores and bring up
children in harmony and tranquility;
'The aged and the disabled are well taken care of, tended to and are
able to fade away gracefully and with dignity;
'The cattle graze freely without being lifted or harmed by
miscreants.'
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The soldier is the very basis of a nation
He is thus the VERY BASIS and silent, barely visible CORNERSTONE of
our fame, culture, physical well being and prosperity; in short, of
the entire nation building activity.
'He DOES NOT perform any of these chores himself directly: he ENABLES
the rest of us to perform these without let, hindrance or worry
(nirbheek and nishchinta).
'Our military sinews, on the other hand, lend credibility to our
pronouncements of adherence to good Dharma, our goodwill, amiability
and peaceful intentions towards all our neighbour nations (Sarve
Bhavantu Sukhinaha, Sarve Santu Niramayaha...) as also those far away
and beyond.
'These also serve as a powerful deterrent against military
misadventure by any one of them against us.'
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Standing vigil, eyes peeled for action, day and night, dawn-to-dusk-to-
dawn...
'If Pataliputra reposes each night in peaceful comfort, O King, it is
so because she is secure in the belief that the distant borders of
Magadha are inviolate and the interiors are safe and secure, thanks to
the mighty Mauryan army constantly patrolling and standing vigil with
naked swords and eyes peeled for action (animish netre) day and night
(ratrau-divase) in weather fair and foul, dawn-to-dusk-to-dawn (ashtau
prahare) quite unmindful of personal discomfort and hardship, loss of
life and limb, separation from the family, all through the year, year
after year (warsha nu warshe).
'While the Magadha citizenry endeavours to make the State prosper and
flourish, the Mauryan soldier guarantees that the State continues to
EXIST! He is the silent sine qua non of our very being!'
Can we all people in uniform, civil services, politics, media and
society at large -- imbue this spirit?
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