Why Disdain for Indian Constitution, Gen Rawat & Lt Gen Chauhan?

“The current government is keen on taking hard decisions that have been pending for a long time. It also seems keen to conclude the Naga talks. The impact on the states of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh is now being assessed before a final decision is made. The Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed despite reservations from a couple of northeastern states. It would not be hard to guess that some hard decisions on left-wing extremism may be on the anvil after this” GoC-in-C of Indian Army’s Eastern Command Lt General Anil Chauhan.

Some armed forces officers are coming out like ten pins to express support for the Narendra Modi government’s “hard decisions”. Oblivious to the fact that all of these are directed against “soft targets”, unarmed civilians. When citizens express their apprehension and anxiety at being subjected to the ignominy of proving their citizenship and the fear of losing it, and with that their very right to life and liberty, they are either prevented or attacked. 

The lethal mix of CAA-NPR-NCR (Citizenship Amendment Act, National Population Register, National Register of Citizens) comes at a time when India is reeling under economic distress, and is plagued by lynch mobs and rapes. All this gets compounded by a police force which, under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation, is fast reverting to its colonial ‘avatar’ that saw people as subjects of British Raj, not as fellow citizens. 

Reports of crime proliferation under BJP and simultaneous suppression of National Crime Research Bureau data show that the Union Home Ministry and BJP-ruled states are busy boosting the morale of repressive arms of the State, while demoralising the citizenry even more. 

What is startling in the above remark of the Lt General rank officer is that he seems to be oblivious of the fact that CAA-NPR-NRC have split the country, in particular Assam and Tripura. Chauhan’s writ covers the entire North East, where the local communities are up in arms against the very “hard decision” he supports. So, what kind of message is he sending to civilians in North East? That he does not care for their concerns? As a serving general, Chauhan is not naive not to know that the Assamese people are out protesting, i.e. the hinterland is in turmoil over legitimate and bonafide concerns of the people that deserve to be respected and recognised, not brushed away using “hard decisions” as a cover-up. This, at a time when the BJP-led government is swinging its ideological sword -- of denying citizenship -- over a large mass of India’s marginalised, vulnerable and oppressed people, in particular Muslims.

Unfortunately, Army chief General Bipin Rawat has taken this discourse to another level. His recent remarks about “university and college students...leading masses of crowds to carry out arson and violence in our cities and towns”, reveal his blindspots, as well as indifference to ground reality, which is uncharacteristic of military officers. So, he chose not to see the students hold peaceful, passionate and creative protests, from holding out flowers, candles, singing the national anthem, to songs, music and posters. Had he opened his eyes, he might have been surprised by the beauty of it all, because it was witnessed in large parts of the country. But to each his/her own.

However, the Army chief appears to have spent some time watching developments in BJP-ruled states where pre-emptive steps of the UP Police turned protestors into offenders, by the imposition of Section 144. When people defied this, the police went after them as though they were ‘enemies’, attacking, detaining, arresting, firing, beating and vandalising. The Army chief remained blind to this.

The point is that serving officials are bringing ignominy for themselves and the institution they command by lending weight to the cacophony of lies, half-truths and misrepresentation. Little wonder that when some officers manning various institutions and agencies of the Indian State are ingratiating themselves before the ruling dispensation, they are becoming part of the problem that faces citizens, whose  very existence as Indian citizens is being ripped open by a “hard decision”.

So, protests will continue to take place because the authorities have begun to believe that they are masters, and citizens are mere subjects. The pity is that the Indian Army at its very top is manifesting a disdain for India’s secular Constitution and Indian citizen’s democratic rights.

Views are Personal.