Ill-treament of military veterans today will produce an insidious impact: An Armed Force bereft of motivation
This writer is no longer angry with either the BJP’s perfidy or the theatre of the absurd that is playing out over the question of one-rank-one-pension. That this demand will be fulfilled is a foregone conclusion and not in doubt, though questions as to what extent and by when continue to plague us. But what should be of serious concern are the consequences that may visit this nation on the road to its implementation.
Our worst fears were realised when we were treated to visuals of Delhi Police and the CRPF assaulting elderly veterans as the latter resisted the ham-handed attempt to evict them from a peaceful and disciplined protest, being carried out with the requisite permissions, in the name of security bandobust on the eve of Independence Day. Those politicians, bureaucrats and policemen, who believed that our agitating military veterans posed a clear and present danger to our Republic showed not just their complete lack of understanding of what constitutes ‘security’, but also their warped mentality and fuzzy thinking.
That the Supreme Commander of our Armed Forces has been inundated by letters from former Armed Forces chiefs, speaks volumes. These august gentlemen have pointed out the simple fact that the horrendous treatment meted out to military veterans by obdurate bureaucrats and self-seeking politicians will adversely impact our serving soldiers, who are not only witness to the double-dealing and broken promises, but also fully aware that it is just a matter of time before they join their compatriots.
Add to this the fact that a large number of serving soldiers are kith and kin of veterans, which till now has been the greatest strength of our Forces, can also become the Government’s Achilles heel if the agitation continues and gathers intensity. It is not that we are faced with an imminent revolt within the military, as was witnessed after Operation Blue Star. Far from it, but we are likely to be afflicted by something much more insidious and damaging in the long run: An Armed Force bereft of motivation.
We have the precedent of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri lanka being partially afflicted by this malaise when those deployed there began to realise that the Government of the day had neither an understanding of the situation nor a cogent plan. This resulted in some units performing sub-optimally, a situation that was prevented from deteriorating, thanks to change of policy and the hasty withdrawal of the Force.
The impact of such an environment on the military hierarchy, already under strain and increasingly being held accountable for the straightened circumstances that the military finds itself in, will not be pleasant. Individuals, sub-units and even units may start fudging reports or avoid carrying out the more dangerous patrols and ambushes that today prevent militants crossing the line of Control.
Standards will be the first casualty as accountability becomes amorphous and vague. Remember 1962, anybodyIJ Or for that matter, take a more recent example. Has any commander or sub-unit in the BSF been held accountable for the recent infiltrations that resulted in the militant action at GurdaspurIJ Or do we believe that militants crossed a river in spate, without the connivance of elements responsible for guarding the fenceIJ Either the fence was not patrolled properly or worse, some troops conveniently looked away as the militants crossed over.
Sadly, neither civil society nor the fourth estate has, in any substantive way, bothered to understand the consequences of all the wrongs that have been done to the military community, serving soldiers and veterans, over the years. Attention has only been focused on shedding crocodile tears when some soldier is martyred or other such hypocritical acts of faux patriotism such as the recent celebrity Twitter campaign to support the Indian Armed Forces under the ‘SaluteSelfie’ hashtag. That the public at large, which could have forced our political establishment to do the right thing through active engagement, has shown itself to be lazy, callous and self-absorbed, only reinforced the belief among veterans that the civil society is no different to our politicians.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will do well to remember that his fate is completely tied, not to the riveting drama and bombast of his speeches in Dubai, New York, or Sydney, but to his actions in his own country. While he may continue to comfort himself with the fact that there is no opposition leader worth the name who could pose a problem in the coming years, dealing with the complex security challenges that we face with the Armed Forces on life support, may be a bigger handicap than he can handle. The Prime Minister has no choice but to act, and act quickly. Most importantly, the three serving chiefs need to re-discover some spine and inform the Prime Minister of the looming disaster ahead, if they wish to save the Forces they venerate and command.
(The writer is a military veteran and consultant with the Observer Research Foundation)