Not in a fauji’s name....

Brig Gurinder Singh (Retd)

LAST month, when a friend posted a few photographs about the death of 10 safai karamcharis in Delhi on his Facebook page, he received a strange counter-argument, "So what? Aren't the soldiers dying on the border?" That happened around August 15, when Indians are usually charged up with seasonal patriotic fervor, which this year was compounded by the Doklam crisis and the security situation in Kashmir. But it is quite distressing to note that the death of fellow citizens at the lowest rung of society, entirely due to callous and negligent contractors and officials, is trivialised by such insensitive references to the faujis. There is a growing trend of using soldiers as a shield to justify everything, invariably by those who have no knowledge of the structure, organisation, working ethos and culture of the defence forces.

Misconception in public

Code of conduct: There is a misconception in the public, especially after 'surgical strikes', that the day-to-day functioning of the Army is controlled/monitored/guided by the political leadership. In my four tenures (all before 2014) on the Line of Control in J&K in different capacities, including command of a brigade, I do not recall any incident where there was ever any ambiguity in the approach or condoning of any softness or lack of aggression by anyone. There has never been any doubt about the operational procedures and code of conduct, nor was there any looking back for the orders. But Sharmaji, our grocerywala, thinks that the Army has only recently been given permission to act aggressively (khuli chhoot) against infiltrators and terrorists. The utterances of Manohar Parrikar as Raksha Mantri, "The esteem of the Defence Services is lowered in the public as there has been no war in last so many years", left one wondering about his understanding of security matters. His act of crediting the 'Surgical Strikes' to his own RSS training undermined the credibility of the armed forces.

TV debates: To use border tension with Pakistan and China to whip up misplaced patriotic passion in TV debates is not a virtuous thought. It is okay for military officers to be taking part in such debates as defence analysts purely on military/security matters. But when they get drawn into noisy debates on nationalism, they do not enhance the reputation of the armed forces. At times, they are seen in such debates for their military demeanour as a symbol of nationalism, rather than their domain expertise. 

Then there is another category of self-proclaimed nationalists and well-wishers and spokespersons of the military, who have taken this pro-fauji discourse on TV and social media to altogether absurd levels. Do we need to belittle a businessman, an IT professional or a policeman by telling him that his contribution is nothing compared to that of a fauji? A soldier carries out his task because he is trained and conditioned that way and without any external considerations. 

Bollywood portrayal: Akshay Kumar, the film actor, recently displayed public pity on soldiers and the families of martyrs by giving a few lakhs in charity while promoting his film. Do we need to run the defence forces or the welfare of the families of the martyred soldiers on charity? This is because the public perception is largely based on inaccurate, fictitious and often larger-than-life portrayal of military men in our movies. Bollywood would serve the defence forces better if the nuances of military culture, warfare and the context are adequately researched before depicting a fauji character or theme in the movies. In this regard, our film industry should learn from Hollywood.

This new-found fauji overdrive has been exploited by the advertisement industry, too. Though there is nothing wrong in exploiting the pro-military public sentiment for commercial gains, the depiction of soldiers/soldiering in such advertisements is nowhere near the real-life soldiering.  A soldier deployed at the Line of Control or other operational areas is neither a Rambo nor Robot. He detests inaccurate representation of his hardships or sacrifices being used for electoral or commercial purposes.

Defence minister’s post

Since May 2014, the post of Defence Minister has been held as an additional charge or by someone who always preferred Goan fish curry to Delhi butter chicken. With 20 months to go, the nation may have finally got a 'full time' Raksha Mantri. The new Defence Minister is entitled to be photographed in the cockpit of the fighter jet and on board a ship or a submarine. But the 'full time' minister should now address these long-pending issues concerning the uniformed personnel of the defence forces. 

Address soldiers’ issues

The soldiers will be better served if the issues related to their pay and pension are addressed, if the anomalies of the 6th and 7th pay commissions were tackled and the One Rank One Pension (OROP) was implemented in its entirety. The Reddy commission report to look into the shortcomings of OROP continues to lie in cold storage since November 16, while the faujis’ agitation at Jantar Mantar continues for more than two years. The misconceptions relating to free rations in peace stations, canteen facilities, buddy (sahayak) system must be seen in proper perspective. When the grant of Non Functional Upgradation (NFU) to defence officers is being contested by the government in the Supreme Court, even after a tribunal headed by a retired high court judge ruled in favour of defence officers, the faujis have reason to be angry. Inaction and indifference of previous governments to these matters cannot be an alibi or justification to defer or deny the soldiers their dues.  

A fauji finds himself being used as a symbol of misplaced patriotism while his concerns relating to pay and pension, welfare and other facilities are not being resolved. Therefore, he has reason to be upset and angry. The saying goes, 'new broom sweeps the corners clean'. Military cantonments are much cleaner than civil areas in the true spirit of Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Some broom-wielding is needed in the Ministry of Defence, too.

The JNU-educated minister must make the right choice; resolve pending issues pertaining to defence personnel and focus on delivery on promises to soothe the ruffled feathers. She also must see how this unnecessary and unwarranted discourse of hyper-nationalism in the name of faujis can be stopped.