Rustom Jamasji Apolitical Blackmail of the Soldier Armed Forces are to be Apolitical. Time and again we have heard this used by political parties and bureaucrats. While the Political and Administration drills the importance to maintain an apolitical armed force, the truth is, that it is the Politicians and the bureaucrat that wants to politicize everything. They have politicized the police force and the teaching force of India, the two forces who mould the next generation. The truth also is this that it is the Armed Forces that really want it itself to remain Apolitical in its truest form. The policing force of India cannot be termed as being Apolitical. Today recruitment in state police force is done with the help of political parties to win the service tenure of those inducted by help. The area most responsible for politicization of the police force is reservation. Aid in being induced into any foundation or institution due to reservation policy being promoted and executed is the biggest form of politicization of the work force. Thus, today the police work force will be forced to take into account the politics of the situation and thus act, instead of acting in the appropriate unpartisan manner. The Armed forces have managed somehow to keep the evil of reservation at bay. Everyone knows the danger ahead if the fence of the armed forces being devoid of reservations based on class and creed is breached. There have been pressures from certain sectors to include caste/creed reservation in the armed forces but the biggest deterrent to it is the price one pays for flying on borrowed wings. Thus the political and administrative forces have realized that if they push reservations in the armed forces, then the next level would be bias towards postings and placement of certain troops. For vote banks then certain segments within the reservation would then be favored with regards to duties and postings. The administration and political masters would then have perhaps weaved a web around themselves, as pressure from their own creation would not be able to be /contained/controlled, as then each segment of a million workforce working for a central Govt would have his loyalty spread across state Govts and political parties. A nightmare for the central Govt to control, as then state politics would play a major part. Yet they want to control the armed forces and one of the best ways to keep control over the armed forces is by misusing the term ‘Apolitical’. Their meaning of apolitical is to dissuade the person in uniform from recognizing, talking and having an opinion on the failures or dangerous maneuvers of the Govt in power. Yet this system of ‘apolitical’ would encompass within itself the right and pressure from the Govt and MoD on the armed forces to be used as a propaganda machinery and declare “all is well” when nothing is, and monies collected for the same are diverted elsewhere. The politicians meaning of apolitical army means that the army has to declare all unsafe, outdated produces of HAL and DRDO as the best in the world. Any deviation from this would enable the powers to be hold the top echelons of the armed forces as corrupt and/or against indigenization Thus there lies a danger with the Misuse of the term ‘Being Apolitical”. The danger goes on to deny the basic moral right of any human., the right to have, hold and form an opinion. Add to this it takes away the right from that segment that pays the price with their lives due to the criminal negligence of the Govt. Being apolitical does not imply denying the moral right of having an opinion, of thinking, of making a decision and acting accordingly. This type of being Apolitical puts an end to an intellectual debate, closes avenues that could be investigated to come to a right decision. The political and administrative class of India wants the armed forces personnel to not have an opinion about the subject he knows best. The soldier would be the best examiner of policies made by national leaders and administrators. In any other country, feeling and pulse of the people on the job are taken into account, studied, strategies rectified accordingly if deemed fit otherwise pass on the appropriate justification so that the person on the job does not feel neglected but by addressing the issue that includes him as being part of the system. In India sadly the opinion and suggestion of the armed forces (which act like a deterrent to adversaries, a deterrent to war and thus benefit the economy) are put a stop to. The Political class for its power hunger and bureaucratic circles for its greed and myopic vision, turn a factor that would enable a quick victory, aiding economy into a weak frontier inviting enemy’s wrath and bloodshed of our own by closing, ending and nipping the thought process of an important segment in the bud itself. Leaders who know that they have failed in their duties, or have purposely given a wrong direction to the country, can only use this strategy. They would thus want to not only distance the pulse on the street but would like to gag the pulse. Just like pseudo human rights –pro terrorist outfits holograph themselves as human right organization to further their agenda through manipulations, the Indian Political and Administrative class wants to bury the pulse of the armed forces, their opinions, their right to address the nation’s problem on crucial issues, by misusing the meaning of being Apolitical. It wants to confuse the minds and blur the difference between being Apolitical and an Idiot. The strength of comprehension cannot be taken away but the strength to voice and act due to the strength of comprehending is what the Govt and administration wants to nullify. The present Govt working has been against national interest. It has weakened the armed forces thus the security of the country. It actually misused the curtain of corruption and indiginisation to make the armed forces weak. It, through its weak policies, has instigated more attacks and has paved way for instigating breach of India’s sanctity. It itself on numerous occasions has even supplied excuses on behalf of those breaching India’s sanctity. Who but the soldier would be the best to realize this? Who best but those from within the armed forces can bring this to the Indian civilian? Who but the Indian civilian can vote them in or out of power? When it comes to national security, the civilian realizes that effects of national insecurity does not distinguish between the so called hi or low class. big business houses would be affected as seen during the Bombay attack which in turn could lead to a depression and an economic downturn. Once again by misusing an important envelope within the human framework, the Govt and the MoD wants the armed forces to not talk of the deficiencies of the Govt. so that it is not brought to the civilians , so that a million serving and a million veterans don’t have a common ideology and bring in another few millions by shedding the knowledge of the govts and MoD’s dangerous working. Though the political and administrative class may not want the chiefs to believe so, the armed forces have the power to move mountains politically and administratively. Because the civilian tax payer and business man acknowledges the importance of the serving chiefs,and this fact known by the babu and the neta , they thus at times call on the Chiefs to give a press brief when the literally the shits hit the fan. That way also both the political and administrative class slides out and places the armed forces in the limelight so that they can shoulder the blame is things turn out for the worse. If all goes well, the arena is once again filled with political and administrative bravado. The armed forces by addressing the nation could tilt scales. If the armed forces together highlight the Govts and administration’s negligence, of it being deficient and instead of rectifying the deficiency being adamant and even defiant in their endeavor to continue to be deficient in all respects, the MoD and the powers that be would face the heat of the nation. Perhaps the first time in the nation’s history, politicians have felt the heat of the democratic power of the soldiers and veterans. They have scurried together with babu and come up with a strategy that mis interprets the meaning of being Apolitical. They have strategised to mutilate the meaning of being Apolitical to that of a gag order for not having an opinion, for gagging a thought process from taking shape and for the public to be kept in dark. The Indian soldier and veteran must not allow himself to be fooled into believing that being apolitical is akin to keeping shut regards to the grave injustice and criminal negligence towards the armed forces and thus the country. The soldier must remain Apolitical in the true sense. Yet must realize the firm distinction of being Apolitical and being blackmailed into silence. The armed forces should not allow pressurizing itself into this mutilated apolitical syndrome otherwise the environment will become non conducive for any professional to join even though perhaps the MoD would desire it to become so. NB:- Views expressed by the author are his personal.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:43:07 +0000
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