The erstwhile Governor of Kashmir Mr Satya Pal Malik’s recent disclosure about Pulwama has not come to me as a surprise, not because there is some truth in it, but because, our politicians have been traditionally exploiting the soldiers for their own vested political interests.
Stephen Cohen, a renowned strategic expert on South Asian Affairs, while discussing about the Indian military traditions wrote in his book - The Indian Army
“There are particularly two different sets of attitude towards military in India. Modern militarism and traditional militarism”. The modern militarism, he said, was the outcome of the realization that the Army is the symbol of state power and was an expression of national will which demanded equalitarian recruitment. This sentiment was more prominent in Bengal and Western India and thereafter grew in other regions. Whereas, the Traditional Militarism was confined to specific regions and castes. He further added that, “As a result of agitation both in England and India the strength of Indians in ICS increased to the 5% of the total within a span of 15-20 years whereas during the same period although the lower ranks of Indian Army were mainly Indians but there representation in the officer cadre was much below 5% and it was not till late 20th century that there was some pressure from urban India”.
This implies that Army was never a lucrative career for urbanite and educated Indian youth(except in some regions).
The Governements as a result have been using armed forces as a mere symbol of national power and also to hype up nationalism during or just prior to elections without showing any genuine concern for the soldier, who is otherwise treated with disdain by the society and by the politicians. Ours is one country whose Govt is engaged in litigations with its own armed forces. Pan Singh Tomar turned into a dacoit because he was illtreated by the civic society and the recent incident of a soldier beaten to death by a politician are few such examples that convey as to how a soldier is treated in our society.
As a result our soldiers have often been thrown into action as cannon fodder, without anyone questioning the policy makers.
Remember the Hindi movie “Baby” in which the secretary of the Raksha Mantri was slapped by Akshay Kumar when the Secretary spoke with indifference about the soldier’s casualties ;
“ unka kaam to marna hi hai” .
This is exactly what Hajendra Baweja in her book ; The Soldier’s Diary while blaming the entire set up for the Kargil war said ;
‘Maybe this diary will expose those responsible. But who will pay the price? My overwhelming fear is that the sacrifices of so many brave soldiers will have been in vain”.
None asked the Govt and the authorities concerned that ;
Why did we suffer so many casualties ; 527 killed and 1300 wounded ?
Did we fight the Kargil war in the manner it should have been fought ?
Could there have been a better way or Was the Govt in a hurry as the elections were to be held soon so they pushed the army into action ?
Could we have not got behind the enemy?
Could we have not enlarged the battle field like we did in 1965?.
Hoowever, Sam Manekshaw , offcourse as a retired soldier had asked very pertinent questions on the issue of Induction of Indian army in Srilanka, with little preparations . He wrote ;
“ Where was the hurry? Was our territorial integrity endangered” ?
Why go so far , Lets discuss about recent incidents . Did anyone BOTHER TO ASK ;
Why did Mr Modi compell the Corps Commander, a Lt Gen, to apologise publicly just prior to the Assembly elections in Kashmir, when the troops had fired on a Maruti van which had not stopped at the Barrier ?
On top of that , why did Mr Modi boast about that apology by a General in a public rally ; " Yeh Modi Raj mey mumkin hai", he had said?
Under whose order that crucial Check Barrier was removed?
Had that barrier been there, could the casualties been avoided?
Why did we lose 20 men at Galwan ?
Why did they go unarmed to examine whether the Chinese who had intruded into our territory have gone back or not?
Why did the Commanding Officer go to the site leading not even a platoon size force , what were his Company Commanders and Young Captains doing? Or
Was the Commanding Officer scared that if he sends a young Officer , the situation may heat up?
So why was he so concerned about the situation not flaring up despite the fact that Enemy had entered India’s territory?
Who was in that case issuing instructions to the Commanding Officer?
What kind of an Army are we creating ? An army which is at the beck and call of politicians and wags its tail in front of the enemy?
Sadly, once again no one is asking questions and in the guise of Nationalism the politicians are using soldiers as sacrificial lamb and are getting away lightly.
Politicians divide the country into warring vote banks and place one community against another. They campaign on slogans that appeal to community fears and suspicions rather than create any national consensus or harmony. They hold power based upon blame and hatred
The following should remind us once again what we have turned into and where are we heading to ;
Alberuni, a noted historian who came to India with Mahmud Ghazni who conducted numerous raids and looted temples in India with impunity and with little challenge, rightly described the temper of the then Indians in his book. Alberuni said ;
“ Indians are haughty, foolishly vain, self contained and stolid(stupid), and they believe that there is no country like theirs, no king like theirs and no science like theirs.” Aren’t we, the natives of this land still the same as our ancestors were in 11th century.
In 1192, just within hundred years of Alberuni’s description, finally because of our own stupidity, we lost our Political freedom and for next almost 800 years we suffered and were humiliated.
Thereafter, Even Shri C Rajgopalachari a renowned freedom fighter had mentioned in his prison diary in 1922 -
“ Elections and their corruption, injustice and the power and tyranny of wealth and inefficiency of administration will make hell of life as soon as freedom is given to us. Men will look regretfully back to the old regime ( British Rule) of comparative justice and efficient, peaceful more or less honest administration. The only thing gained from independence will be that as a race we will be saved from dishonor and subordination”.
Even Churchil on the eve India’s Independence had warned us ;
"Power will go to rascals, rogues, freebooters. . . . All leaders will be of low caliber & men of straw. . . They'll have sweet tongues & silly hearts. . . They will fight amongst themselves for power & the two countries will be lost in political squabbles. . . . A day would come when even air & water will be taxed”.
All these years we have been working incredibly hard to prove them right ; that we are divided, we are corrupt, we are dishonest to our own gallant soldiers, that we have no integrity, we can even stoop down low to exploit the dead soldiers for our own vested political interests.
I know Pathological Modi Bhakts will still find a reason to support him and not the soldiers.