Every Indian certainly feels that it is the job of the Defence Minister of India to ensure that its armed forces are kept in fit and fighting conditions at all times. Any fighting force is required to be fit physically, mentally and psychologically. The armed forces are also required to be equipped with adequate arms and ammunition to render the armed forces a deterrent amongst the enemies including terrorist organizations. The armed forces keep themselves fit and ready to combat 24/7 due to its strenuous regimen of training and continuous exercises in the field. It is a global phenomenon that the armed forces of each country have been held in high esteem and well respected not because of the number of wars they have successfully fought but for their ability to deter any war like situation and thus maintaining peace in their country.
It is therefore very unfortunate that as the country’s defence minister not only he forgot to understand the anatomy of Indian armed forces and its inherent importance to the nation but also was found wanting to protect the integrity of Indian armed forces by indulging himself in unwanted, unwarranted, unpalatable, destabilizing, demoralizing controversial statements about the Indian armed forces on 15 June 2015 at an event at Jaipur. His exact remarks are
“In the past, when there was a letter from a military commanding officer to an IAS officer or any other authority, it received attention of the highest order. Today, that respect has diminished… One reason is that for 40-50 years, we have not fought a war. I am not saying we should go to war. I am saying that because we haven’t fought a war, the importance of the Army in our minds has dwindled.” Let’s not forget that it is our armed forces which protect the sovereignty of India and rightly being show cased on the republic day every year without fail.
May be it is his mindset and the IAS babu’s perception (who invariably helped and shaped his mindset) but certainly not of the common man of India who are still very respectful and fond of the Indian armed forces. His statement makes it very clear that he does not seem to know much about the Indian history itself. When he loosely says 40-50 years in 2015, it shows his total ignorance since India has fought 1965 war, 1971 war, 1999 Kargil war and many small battles and skirmishes all throughout not excluding innumerable efforts in bringing succor to millions left in the lurch by the same incompetent, apathetic, inefficient, self serving IAS babus in handling natural disasters like tsunami, earthquake, floods etc.., simply by the attitude of SERVITUDE which is utterly lacking in the babus who, probably, shape Mr Parikar’s perception and mindset.
It was further disheartening that Mr Parikar who took over as defence minister on 9 Nov 2014 has learnt little about the customs, traditions of the armed forces which was evident in his remark in the Loksabha on 6 May 2016 by calling the ex Chief Of Air Staff as a small fry thus belittling the entire IAF and its cadres along with disrespecting the entire retired soldiers of IAF. He in the arrogance of power forgot that it is these kinds of men who do not hesitate to sacrifice with their lives to the nation are to be respected and not humiliated. By calling an ex CAS a small fry is he trying to make the wheeling dealing Netas and babus the BIG fry? What a joke? Those who cheat the country are BIG in the eyes of our ill informed Defence Minister but those who give up everything for the sake of the country are SMALL fries…It is he and his ilk which are seeing that the respect for armed forces personnel is diminishing and making continued efforts to bring down the pride and prestige of armed forces by their meaningless utterances like the ones quoted above. Mind you the defence minister did not even find time to meet the veterans on his own by going to them when they were agitating (For the first time in Independent India) for the implementation of OROP.
Time has come for the defence minister to ameliorate his utterances by positive postulations towards the armed forces and projecting them as is being done in many other countries including US of A. Mr Defence Minister, please give your soldiers their due status and instruct your babus to attend to anything and everything the armed forces writes to them seriously and on priority.
It is never too late to change if it has not been changed until now. Spend little more time with your armed forces top brass…
Jai bharath mataki
I Love my India