The Soldier, the State and the Media
April 6, 2012 by Team SAISA
Filed under Uncategorized
Nitin Gokhale
In my three decades of reporting on the Indian military, I have never felt more uneasy about the military-media interface as I have in the past three months.
Not because the media has been accused of being sensationalist or because many unsavoury truths about internal rivalry and groupism in the military brass has created bad blood in the top hierarchy.
My unease stems from the damage that events of the past few months have inflicted on the average Indian soldier.
While all dramtis personae are equally culpable in the current controversy, we in the media certainly have a greater responsibility not to add fuel to the fire.
For at least a quarter century now, we have been lamenting the steadily diminishing status of the ordinary Indian soldier in the society.; that soldering is no longer respected as a nobel profession in our rural areas; that the jawan struggles to get his due from the civil administration increasingly contemptuous and apathetic towards him; that he continues to get poorly paid and unfairly treated by a society solely driven by materialism.
Now, following a spate of reports based on half-truths and outright lies, motivated by God alone knows what, we may have done the ultimate disservice to the Indian soldier: planted the seed of suspicion about his loyalty in the minds of ordinary Indians.
While I will defend the right of every media person to report what he or she thinks is right, I am afraid none of us has thought through the consequences of the effect it will have on the psyche of the Indian soldier and more importantly the way ordinary Indians will view the Indian Army.
In the mad race to boost our circulation and viewer ratings, we may have, in one go, started the process of demolishing one last institution that has stood rock solid in defence of idea that is India.
For the first time in my now reasonably longish career in journalism, I feel like hiding from my friends in the military.
I feel we have not paused to think of the long-term damage we have wrought upon the profession of soldiering.
I say this because from disaster relief in floods, tsunami, and earthquakes to rescuing infant Prince from a deep tube well and from quelling rioters in communal strife to being the last resort in internal counter-insurgency operations, the Indian Army has been omnipresent.
It is, what I call, India’s Brahmaastra (the ultimate weapon).
The versatility, adaptability, selfless attitude and resourcefulness of the Indian Army has allowed it to be what it is today: Nation Builders.
And viewed in the context of India’s immediate and extended neighbourhood, its stellar role stands out in stark contrast to its counterparts in other countries.
Remember, Indian and Pakistani Armies originated from the same source, the British Army and yet, six decades since they parted ways, there couldn’t be a bigger dissimilarity in the way the two have evolved.
As they say, India has an Army while the Pakistani Army has a nation!
More importantly, despite India’s increasing dependence on the Army to pull its chestnuts out of fire time and again, the Indian Army has scrupulously remained apolitical.
The contribution of the Indian Army in nurturing and strengthening democracy—with all its faults—can never be underestimated.
It has put down fissiparous and secessionist forces within India with great cost to itself over these 60 years. It has protected India from within and without.
The Indian army also has a unique distinction of helping create a nation (Bangladesh) in the neighbourhood and then quietly walking away to let the people take charge.
By contrast, the Pakistani Army has never really allowed democracy to flourish in its country. Instead, it has created a military-industrial complex that has spread its tentacles in every aspect of governance. Even today, the Pakistani army does not let go of any opportunity to undercut democracy; it nurtures and treats jihadi elements as its strategic asset against India and the United States.
Even in other smaller nations around India—Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh, for instance—the armed forces have had to intervene and run the affairs of those countries at some point.
The Army has also withstood systematic assault on its status from politicians and bureaucrats who are forever looking for ways to downgrade the military’s status. While the principle of civilian supremacy over the armed forces is well entrenched and understood in India, what is incomprehensible is the constant chipping away at the military’s standing.
The nation as a whole and indeed the people at large have the highest regard and affinity for the men in uniform for the yeoman service they render in every conceivable situation, but most mandarins in the Ministry of Defence and some of the politicians do not have the same opinion and are repeatedly trying to run down the military without realising the immense damage they cause to the only available bulwark we have against any attempt to Balkanise India. Now unfortunately, even we in the media seem to have joined these ill-informed and devious bunch of opportunists.
As former Chief of army Staff, Gen. S. Padmanabhan says in his book, A General Speaks: Even after Independence, India’s political leaders found it convenient to keep the Army, Navy and the Air Force out of the ‘policy’ making bodies. The service HQs were left at the level that the British left them—that of being ‘attached offices,’ of the Ministry of Defence. Even at the level of Defence Minister and Service Chiefs, exchanges on major matters of Defence policy were few and far between…”
Another former Army Chief, Gen. Shankar Roy Choudhury has observed: “It is… essential in the national interest that the armed forces are upgraded and updated on an ongoing basis, something which governments have been traditionally loath to acknowledge and undertake, the Indian government perhaps more so than others in this respect.
”Historically, it is to the credit of the Indian Army that it has fulfilled its role as an organ of the state…It has functioned effectively in every type of role, in spite of the general lack of a supportive government environment by way of adequate finances, resources, equipment, personnel policies, or higher political direction.”
A nation’s military provides what is called a ‘hard-edged’ backup to its international standing. A strong military and especially a powerful, well-trained, fully equipped army act as a deterrent against adversaries. It is therefore essential that the nation’s decision-makers consciously back the Army and provide it with the support that it needs to meet diverse challenges that exist and are likely to come up in the coming decade.
So far, the Indian Army has fulfilled its role in nation building admirably well. All of us, ordinary citizens, media persons, politicians, bureaucrats, must continue to back the nation’s strongest asset and further strengthen it, if we desire to see India as a global player in the decades to come.
Centuries ago, Kautilya, the wily old strategist told king Chandragupta why the soldier is important for the survival of the Kingdom. If India has to survive as a nation-state, this advice (reproduced from a piece written by Air Marshal SG Inamdar for the USI Journal) is worth repeating in its entirety here.
As the learned Air Marshal says:” It is amazing how clearly those ancients saw the likely fault lines in governance, the intricacies of management of the military by the state functionaries, the nature of the military and the citizenry and the close interplay between them all. It is truly amazing how those observations continue to be so completely relevant today, even after 2000 years.”
Here’s what Kautilya told the king of Magadh:
Kautilya
“The Mauryan soldier does not himself the Royal treasuries enrich nor does he the Royal granaries fill. He does not himself carry out trade and commerce nor produce scholars, thinkers, littérateurs, artistes, artisans, sculptors, architects, craftsmen, doctors and administrators. He does not himself build roads and ramparts nor dig wells and reservoirs. He does not himself write poetry and plays, paint or sculpt, nor delve in metaphysics, arts and sciences. He does not do any of this directly as he is neither gifted, trained nor mandated to do so.
The soldier only and merely ensures that:
The tax, tribute and revenue collectors travel far and wide unharmed and return safely;
The farmer tills, grows, harvests, stores and markets his produce unafraid of pillage & plunder;
The trader, merchant and moneylender function and travel across the length and breadth of the realm unmolested;
The savant, sculptor, painter, maestro and master create works of art, literature, philosophy, astronomy and astrology in peace & quietitude;
The architect designs and builds his Vaastus without tension;
The tutor (‘acharya’), the mentor (‘guru’) and the priest (‘purohit’) teach and preach in tranquility;
The sages (‘rishis, munis, and tapaswees’) meditate and undertake penance in wordless silence;
The doctor (‘vaidyaraja’) tends to the ill and the infirm well, adds to the pharmacopoeia, discovers new herbs and invents new medical formulations undisturbed;
The mason, the bricklayer, the artisan, the weaver, the tailor, the jeweller, the potter, the carpenter, the cobbler, the cowherd (‘gopaala’) and the smith work unhindered;
The mother, wife and governess go about their chores and bring up children in harmony and tranquility;
The aged and the disabled are well taken care of, tended to and are able to fade away gracefully and with dignity; cattle graze freely without being lifted or harmed by miscreants.
He is thus the VERY BASIS and silent, barely visible CORNERSTONE of our fame, culture, physical well-being and prosperity; in short, of the entire nation building activity. He DOES NOT perform any of these chores himself directly: he ENABLES the rest of us to perform these without let, hindrance or worry (‘nirbhheek and nishchinta’).
Our military sinews, on the other hand, lend credibility to our pronouncements of adherence to good Dharma, our goodwill, amiability and peaceful intentions towards all our neighbour nations (‘sarve bhavantu sukhinaha, sarve santu niramayaha…’) as also those far away and beyond. These also serve as a powerful deterrent against military misadventure by any one of them against us.
If Pataliputra reposes each night in peaceful comfort, O King, it is so because she is secure in the belief that the distant borders of Magadha are inviolate and the interiors are safe and secure, thanks to the mighty Mauryan Army constantly patrolling and standing vigil with naked swords and eyes peeled for action (‘animish netre’), day and night (‘ratrau-divase’), in weather fair and foul, dawn-to-dusk-to-dawn (‘ashtau prahare’), quite unmindful of personal discomfort and hardship, loss of life and limb, separation from the family, all through the year, year after year (‘warsha nu warshe’).
While the Magadha citizenry endeavours to make the State prosper and flourish, the Mauryan soldier guarantees that the State continues to EXIST! He is the silent ’sine qua non’ of our very being!”
Can we all—people in uniform, civil services, politics, media and society at large– imbue this spirit?
Author is Security & Strategic Affairs Editor with NDTV
Kautilya also stated that one sixth of the nations revenue needs to be spent for its protection. No Defence budget since independence has reached that level. We are ill prepared to defend the country with Military power – may be we need to depend on Will power.
!ts balanced and inspiring and I agree with contents
Even if few are able to imbibe the spirit- the purpose would be served.
Continuous harping / hammering do have effects. So if media today
if able to do -will fulfill void left and they will serve the nation
However its easily said than done- for the simple reason- it may not be
salable
I think that long time ago we had a subject” moral science” no more of it in
the syllabus.
We in past used to have long list of writers who were not only popular
but were in a position make livelihood with their writings.
Now , we have writers but how many of them are popular in that sense.
Till such time it was there one could see around morals in
society but with it being out of horizon- slow death of it can be seen
Great piece.
Well said sir,
The average citizen understands TRP but a continued assault and lowering of dignity will only not get more men to volunteer, the long time loss will be of the nation, not its soldiers.
Nitin, you have done great justice to objectively put the right perspective in focus. We need to fully support the last standing institution of the country and protect it from others and itself due to the rot in journalistic values.
MD Nalapat has reported that the C word sensationalism is a fallout of the age controversy and the arms gate perpetuated by the powers that were exploiting the apparent rift in civil military relations. Glory be..we do not need enemies.
Great piece. But Kautilya’s crunchline is missing, where he finally says, “While the citizenry of the State contribute to see that the State prospers and flourishes, the soldier Guarantees that it continues to EXIST as a State!
To this man, O Rajadhiraja, you owe a debt.
Therefore, see to it on your own, that the soldier continuously gets his dues in every form and respect, be they his needs or his wants, for he is not likely to ask for them himself.
The day the soldier has to demand his dues will be a sad day for Magadha. For then, on that day, you will have lost all moral sanction to be King!”
…the last two sentences are very important.
What Kautilya told the king of Magadh, actually amounted to the Maoist dictum, “Political power flows from the barrel of a gun.” Indian politicians do not have an ensured place in the Indian hearts at large and are creating a corrupt and politically brittle India. Fancy, twenty four political coalition fingers on the decision making trigger! Indian masses need decision makers and they do have not have them.
I am reassonably certain that the tinkers and the tailors and the candlestick makers in India will soon begin to pine, enmass, for a decision maker on the horse back, protestations to the contrary by Indian middle class media ninnies not withstanding.
The net and the media is full of stories about the state of the defence forces and it’s relations with the polity and bureaucracy. This one is another one on the same lines and ofcourse with a benevolent look at the forces. Having served in the Army and still being in touch with the serving soldier I can say that in this country it would be very difficult for the services to have respect for the politicians and the bureaucrats that govern this country. The reasons are obvious and known to all. However the services have always been loyal to the nation because they serve the nation and not the Neta. That is how it should be because the national needs remain supreme. Netas and bureaucrats will come and go with no accountability or commitment. For the nation to survive and progress it needs an anchor. We in the Armed forces have provided it and will provide it. These guys need not worry about minor troop movements around Delhi.
we are paying the price for freedom of the press ?? the country should always come first, if that is forgotten and we fall for the TRP trap , we are doomed !!! its never too late , lets have mature press , PLEASE
I think the press is doing a good job. The status of the armed forces with respect to others need to be brought to public notice so that corrections can be made in time. People need to know what ails the soldiers, sailors and airmen – and what he Govt is doing about it. Can we rest assured that our borders are safe? It it is not we have a right to know. The press is highlighting what our ancient texts about statecraft say and there is nothing wrong in that.
Mao did not copy Kautilya. What Kautilya said is that the needs of those who protect the kingdom needs to be addressed in a pro-active manner. What Mao said is what is being followed in India’s neighborhood. A larger coalition ensures that dictatorial tendencies of the largest party are checked with the ideologies of other parties. The only time the President of Pakistan has been riding a horse is while playing polo. At all other times he can not take a decision without a wink from those with the barrel of the gun.
An excellent piece. It seems, the media, perhaps not well acquainted with the forces, has unwittingly presented the military in a very poor light. Military may have its share of flaws or blemishes, but to suggest that the armed forces are working at cross purposes with the government, is definitely not helping the interests of the military, the government or the country. Investigative journalism is most welcome but not sensationalism at the expense of military or its relationships with the political leadership; merely to sell its papers or the air-time.
We are not past the ‘point of no return’ and our media should avail of all opportunities to restore public confidence in the only institution that can be relied upon to deliver – come hell or high water.
Well balanced article. Nitin, you need not run away from us. We know what you stand for. Kautilya’s prediction may well turn out to be true..the day the soldier has to ask for his dues, that will be the day the King loses his moral sanction to rule him….I think the day has just about begun….
Balanced and mature-kudos to Nitin.Refreshing change from the ‘rubbishy’ rhetoric one commonly finds.
Dear Nitin,
Well said! I hope more people in the Media, Politicians and Bureaucrats read your article and feel the necessity to respect and restore the dignity of the soldier. I also hope the Generals of the Indian Army have similar concerns about their Army and their men! A soldier perceiving that his govt / civ authorities ( Bureaucrats/ lower level govt staff / police etc) as not giving his due and treating him shabbily is a very demoralizing aspect. A greater danger is in a soldier perceiving his superior officers as corrupt, incompetent, weak/subservient (not capable of taking a stand in the interest of the Army/Nation), self-serving and indifferent towards the interest of the organisation and its soldiers. Morale and motivation – the most important driving elements and force multipliers – of the Armed Forces are vital aspects for its existence and good health. The Generals better take care of that and resist the temptation to indulge in activities which show the Armed forces in poor light. They should realise that the higher they go more of their bottom is visible to more people! (keep it clean).
It is high time our political bosses dealt directly with the top brass of the Armed Forces on matters military rather than ‘process files’ through the babus.
Lets hope things take a positive turn and every Indian is proud of its Armed Forces!
I fully agree with the honest and gentleman journalist who has the courage to criticize and condemn those who indulge in sensational news for cheap popularity to boost their ego or the sale of their paper.It is just not understood how the political masters not only ignore the role of the armed forces whom they employ and use when the legitimate department entrusted for a particular role fail and yet the credit is never given.Armed forces not only protect the nations sovereignty and honour of the country but are employed to combat disasters like earthquakes,floods internal security .Inexperienced bureaucrats are given the responsibility of controlling the supplies and provisioning of the armed forces and when they delay in decision making resulting in shortages or battle worthiness of the forces they get scot-free because there is all around lack of accountability by the wily ones.Has anyone ever raised a question in parliament why the children of politicians bureaucrats and captains of industry are not members of the forces?Why the armed forces are never part of decision-making forums where their careers and pay revisions are considered resulting in step-motherly treatment visa vie other central government services.
Please see “article “Public’s attitude to Soldiers and War” at . I would be happy to receive critical comments thereon.. P.T.
Please find below url for “Public & Soldiers – How they view each other & War”
http://www.ideaz4india.com/index.php/war-conflicts/ideaz-on-public-soldiers-how-they-view-each-other-war/
I hope you will find the other articles on the site also of interest.
Best Wishes… P. T.
You article is poignant and connects the dots in the quintessential question relating public perceptions of war and the profession of arms. In today’s hybrid environment nations are virtually always at war. The domains of these wars vary though ranging from regular, irregular, distruptive or catastrophic. This concept engages the state, people and the military’s trinity and thus can thus no longer be outsourced to the military alone. It will and shall remain a collective responsibility for which the state has to remain prepared at all times.
What we are witnessing as the media war on the efforts by media to run down the military may well be at the behest of inimical forces to drive a wedge between the trinity while demoralizing the military. One has to construe the current spate of activities from this angle too.
No nation which has disespected its armed forces has been able to stand up to the challenges we face, both within and without. The release of hostages in lieu of naxal demands demoralises the police forces who have taken great pains to fight the red terror. Likewise armed forces can be gnawed from within by such malicious propaganda.
Enemies shall be the winners without firing a shot if we continue on the same path.
Your portal has some interesting articles and we would remain connected to learn more from each other.
I salute the men & women in the Indian Army for their selfless courage, purpose, commitment & devotion. God Bless each & every one of them. Jai Hind!