A furore – and not without reason
Chief of Army Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat’s remarks on the growth of the All India United Democratic Front( A IUD F) in Ass am have caused a furore–and not without reason .“There is a party called AIUDF. If you look at it, they have grown in a faster time-frame than the B JP grew over the years. The B JP won only two seats in the 1984 national election. The AIUDF is moving at a faster pace in
Ass am. I do not think you can now change the population dynamic soft he area. If it was five districts to eight to nine, in version has taken place, which ever be the government,” Gen Rawat said, referring to district sin Ass am that have a Muslim majority, and linking this with migration in the northeast which has altered the demographics in the region, causing a security concern.
F actually, nothing that Gen Raw at has said can be contested. But is the AIUDF— which swears allegiance to India and the constitution— the problem? Ora Chief of Army Staff( CO AS )’ sap parent belief that political activity and India’ s security are mutually exclusive?
The AIUDF, formed in 2005, has three members in parliament and 13 legislators in the Ass am assembly. Its leader Badruddin Ajmal, otherwise called ‘perfume king’ because he made a fortune in the scent business, is a Muslim, business man and politician–in that order. Assamese Muslims who have joined the Army from the districts where the demographic‘ in version’ has occurred are probably so few that you can count them on the fingers of one hand. But is it wise to single the mouton the basis of region and religion?
Chiefs of Army Staff in India have not been tactful about politicians. But they have stayed clear of politics. The most famous set down was from Field Marsh al Sam Manekshaw. When Prime Minister Ind ira Gandhi asked him tersely if the rum ours about a coup by Army were true, he encapsulated in a very Manekshawway, the philosophy of the Indian Army :“You mind your own business, I’ll mind mine. You kiss your own sweetheart, I’ll kiss mine. I don’t interfere politically, as long as nobody interferes with me in the Army” he told her.
There have been instances when ministers have been forced to explain comments made by Chiefs. The then army chief, SF Rodrigues, told a newspaper in an
Chiefs of Army Staff in India have not been tactful about politicians. But they have stayed clear of politics
interview in 1992, that the Army should have a role in governance because things were very bad int he PV Narasimha Rao government because of all the‘ ban di coots ’. This created astor min Parliament. As defence minister, Sharad Pawar saved the situation by making a statement that Army officers are not as clever as politicians in fielding questions from newspapers. But Gen Rodrigues had to live with the shame of having to give a written apology to the Defence Minister for his remarks.
Gen S Padmanabhan, wholed Indiain Operation Para kr am, elliptically voiced his frustration with the the political leadership when he told a reporter :“If you really want to punish someone for something very terrible he has done, you smash him. You destroy his weapons, and capture his territory. War is serious business and you don’ t go in just like that ”.
Gen Raw at’ s professional credentials are unimpeachable: he commanded a company at Uri, a battalion of the 11 th Gorkhas in the NorthEast, the Rashtriya Rifles Sector at Sopore( the heart of militancy in north Kashmir ), served in So po re and commanded a Corps in the NorthEast, where he secured not just A run ac hal Pradesh on the Sin o-Indian border but also handled the ins urgency in Nagaland, Manipur and Lower Assam. He helped execute the raid along the Myanmar border in early July 2015. He commanded the Southern Command at Pu ne before assuming the appointment of V CO AS under Gen Dalbir Suhag. The government superseded two officers senior to him—Gen Pr ave en Bakshi and Gen PM Hariz— to make him COAS. It could bea co incidence that Raw at belongs to the same Uttarak hand village as National Security Advisor AK Do val. But he would do well to remember that loose lips sink ships.