Editor's Note:
An article with above title by Veteran Col Shivaji Ranjan Ghosh was published by MVI on 6 Nov 2024 . Initially the article received no responses except an odd / adverse remark that said " It's not even worth responding to ! " .This highly critical response compelled me to seek some balanced and well considered responses from our Fauji veterans, especially the Army veterans. The views received are just the opposite of the 'adverse remark' and wholeheartedly support and endorse the article by Col Ghosh. These well thought out responses are almost a mini debate that are published below to trigger the minds ,emotions and intellects of veterans for a 'full fledged debate ' on this sizzling topic that has already stirred the ' Fauji hornets’ nest ' quitesometime back. What do our veterans honestly feel about this topic and what Col Shivaji Ranjan Ghosh has stated ,and also what the respondents below have stated ?
Kindly read the article and the responses below and send us your well-considered responses to lead to some sort of a conclusion and consensus on this topic and linked issues.
Col Vinay B Dalvi,
Editor, MVI
By Col Shivaji Ranjan Ghosh
Responses from Veterans
Gp Capt AG Bewoor
1.Yes indeed I do have comments on this business of decolonialism. First of all, the word de-colonialism does not exist. The word was created by those who are wanting to show greater patriotism and love for today's India, than anyone else, and want to destroy whatever happened before 2014 when BJP under Modi came to power. These are foolish as well as dangerous men & women. In an effort to show extreme love and connectivity with Vedic / Upanidishic / Epic times they want to discard everything that happened after Dwapar Yug ended. Idiotic and impossible. It may be possible to try and create a vacuum in civilian life between Dwapar Yug and 2024, but the Indian Armed Forces as we know today have very little to do with Dwapar or Satya Yug. Indian Armed Forces have been conceived and nurtured under very different circumstances. And it is these different conditions and culture that makes Indian Faujis the last bastion and custodian of India that is Bharat. To try and fiddle with their ancestry, traditions, civilisation, methods, systems, manners, art, science, humanities, microorganisms, refinements, nutrients, diet, parades, family life, accomodation, transportation, privileges, discipline and glory, is threatening the very fabric of India's Fauj and by that hurting India that is Bharat. Understand that.
2. There are some things and methods that we have inherited from the British Raj that cannot be discarded and must not be damaged. Indian military traditions are one of them. The IAF history goes back to 1932 with those traditions still very much a part of Indian Air Force culture. Same with our Navy & Army. If the BJP's cadres with full support from RSS ideologues are on this warpath of decolonialism, they must first apply it to themselves. If Pipe Bands are to be discarded as colonial tradition then let all BJP officials / ministers / party workers / RSS members stop living in colonial houses in Delhi and build homes as were made during the Chola and Maratha empires. Demolish Rashtrapati Bhavan, a colossal structure of colonialism and rebuild a home as was used by the Chola maharajas. Break down all the houses of New Delhi and Old Delhi which were built before 1947, let the anti-colonialists live as did the pre-colonial ministers of Chola and Maratha empires. These foolish anti-colonial gangsters will cringe at these thoughts. Their stupid ideas erupt only when they sit inside these air conditioned colonial homes, away from the pollution that engulfs their cities.
3. Not one Band, Pipes or Brass should be disbanded, that is the Fauji legacy with which the Indian Armed Forces are intrinsically attached and wedded. Like introducing sitar / violins / tabla during Beating Retreat, these de-colonialists can add to our culture, but you cannot remove any part of it. Can you do away with the Combined Bands on 29 January at Vijay Chowk? It is as colonial as anything can be.Stop that first. It is not yours to remove dear BJP & RSS. It belongs to us, you have no possession over our traditions. You guys were never a part of its creation and nurturing and blossoming, how dare you try to dismantle it. Mr Rajnath Singh cannot see the danger of this massacre? Such action will have a very deleterious impact on us Faujis and our families. It will hurt you people politically like never before. Forget not what stupid things you did that resulted in only 240 seats in Lok Sabha. Do not treat the Indian Armed Forces as a private university which lives because of your generosity. We, the Indian Armed Forces, along with our traditions and baggage of hundreds of years, are not toys to be tampered with or monkeyed around, whenever the de-colonialist 'thinkers' get new ideas in their Lutyens colonial homes after their tipple.
4. Indian Armed Forces, along with their bands, ships, aircraft, radars, artillery guns, tanks, bombs, grenades, rifles, torpedoes, sailors / soldiers / airmen have done more for India; than any de-colonialists will do or can do. Touch not what is not yours, and which you had no input in making. I am very hurt and surprised that one such as Minister Rajnath Singh has let such imbecility flourish and that too out of his control. I appeal to our RM, and the PM, spending time with jawans and feeding them sweets, is wonderful, but at the same time in the same breath, how can you permit such poor intellectual acuity to exist. I am appalled at the brazen shamelessness of your people to even propose such ideas. You want to include the chivalry, gallantry, achievements of Cholas and Marathas in history classes, congratulations and more power to you. But to cripple and destroy our valued traditions with their pomp and glory, we will fight you tooth and nail. This is not Agniveer where a new concept is being tried out, go ahead, if it is good adopt it. But to burn our history, shame on you.
5. You are breaking the thread that runs through my life and traditions that predate the RSS, the BJP and the Jan Sangh and the departure of the British in 1947. Many of you ideologues were not even born when India got her independence, I was born in British India, I served in the Armed Forces of Independent India touching and nurturing that thread and making it stronger. You fellows do not have any such threads to touch and make stronger and love. My family and those of my colleagues are a part of this big umbrella called the Indian Armed Forces. We do not jump ship and we do not take scavengers for opportunistic temporary victories. You are designed to do that, carry on. Do not try to spoil my dinner and breakfast, I do not ask for more than my share, but I must have that share, India has promised it to me and I have earned it. Who are you to take it away from me, it is not yours.
Col Shivaji Ranjan Ghosh: Very well said, sir. What he has said is exactly what our Generals should have said, if they had any sense of integrity and loyalty to the organisation. I deliberately did not go into the politics and religious aspects as that would have taken the discussion off to another direction, and experience shows that it is futile to discuss anything with the Bhakt Brigade. But what Gp Capt Bewoor has said is the simple, bitter truth.
Brig Pradeep Sharma: I tend to agree in totality with Gp Capt Bewoor.
Our Generals need to read his comments!
Col Vijay Bhate : There can be no two opinions on the subject. What has been said by Gp Capt Bewoor and by Col Shivaji Ranjan Ghosh is very correct !
Only if our armed forces leadership could articulate the same to concerned people in power!
Gp Capt AG Bewoor: It would be unfair to say that our generals have not protested and resisted the changes this govt is contemplating. We will not know, and what veterans write / say / speak under the canopy of retired freedoms has its own complexity.
But surely there are many among us who can and must state these facts and see them being freely available in the public domain. Indeed there are many veterans who are riding the BJP bandwagon and showing virulent tendencies that they show and prove their intense attachment to the Sat Yug and Dwapar Yug. But that virulence has never been a part of those two Yugas. This is a post-independence trait. This trait needs to rise but under control and management of those who have a Sense of Proportion and Balance of Vision. What needs to be reversed cannot happen in a hurry, it is in our marrow not on the skin. Medical science tells us that removing infection from the marrow is a painful and slow process with many ifs and buts. Needs leadership of a superiority and finesse that I do not see in the current dispensation including the PM. I see in his actions a feeling that time is running out for him, I hope I am wrong.
Maj Gen CD Sawant: I partially agree with Col Ghosh. The fact of the matter is though he is very right and put across his views in a very lucid and inspiring manner, we need to remember that Gp Capt Bewoor is a veteran.
I wonder what his views while in service were. Of course that time we did not have BJP government. As regards our Generals and equivalent, we all are aware of the existing environment in our armed forces. The only thing that is standing straight and carrying out its onerous responsibility is the institution of CO. It is this institution that is holding the armed forces together. Our Senior Officers are more worried about their promotion and goodies that are given away after retirement. In recent times the only person who stood straight to a certain extent was Gen Narawane. We know where he stands today. They are not even permitting to publish his book. Rajnath Singh knows that if he opposes Modi, it will be the end of his career and future. Since our Senior Officer are trying to please the govt in power and our middle rank Officers especially COs do not have a voice, the only way is our court of law, but I really wonder if the court can help. The only way is election, but the fact of the matter is if India Group gains power again, things may get worse. We all are aware of their credibility. Armed forces are in a very helpless condition as regards these issues are concerned.
Gp Capt AG Bewoor:
1. My views during my service were exactly what they are today. even then I did not subscribe to foolishly discarding what is our heritage. Besides, officers with 20 to 25 years service are not expected to indulge in such thought processes and pointing fingers at their Commanders for being spineless. Unfortunately many do that, and poison the minds of those under their command. Even if BJP was not in command of India, other netas were also fiddling with our systems without wanting to do away with Pipe Bands or making general officers uniforms monotonously similar. The uniqueness of our uniforms with their distinct varieties is the very bedrock of our Forces.
2. One day will all Air Rank officers of IAF shed their wings / brevets / para-wings / commendation badges / flg proficiency silver wings? I hope the Air Force kicks out such outrageous ideas in the first instance. When your bellies are full and power resides inside your homes, then such dirty thoughts start taking birth, it is these idle minds that want to make changes that are blasphemous and erode the continuity. Without continuity, the union dies and we grope for our ancestry, that is when untruths creep in. Look how the communist historians distorted our textbooks. Can our netas and their fauji patrons shed their political ancestry? Never. Then why should the fauj shed it?
3. It is patently unfair to accuse our senior offrs of maintaining silence. None of us know how much they protest, verbally or on paper. Many will not shout about their actions after retiring, they exercise that self restraint because they know what to say and where to keep silent. I too look fwd to reading Naravne's book. Not just for his dissenting words but for much more. We all must look for the cake and not the icing. Do keep in mind as I did, that when you are CO, GOC, AOC-in-C, MGO, VCNS etc, you are just a temporary custodian of that appointment and unit / org. When you keep reminding yourself about this, then the word I gets replaced by We. That is where real courage comes from. In the changed circumstances, between the 90s while in Service and 2020s as a veteran, you cannot equate thoughts and ideas. The impact of 30 odd years and experience, matures your thinking and also weakens the physical body. Both factors impact what you write and say in November 2024.
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