Of leadership

GEN Bipin Rawat knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Days before his retirement after a three-year tenure as the Army Chief, he has told us, without naming anybody, who the country’s real leaders are and who aren’t. Speaking at a health summit in the Capital and sounding like a management guru, he stated that leaders led people in the right direction, not in inappropriate directions. It wasn’t hard to guess that he was referring to the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NCR). By apparently taking a stand in favour of the powers that be, the General not only waded into a minefield called politics but also drew flak, undermining the authority and sanctity of his office. Even though the protests across the country have been unmistakably leaderless, the Army Chief claimed that some people were leading crowds to carry out arson and violence — virtually echoing the government’s point of view that Opposition parties were fanning the flames.

The Army’s clarification on Gen Rawat’s remarks was more of a damage-control exercise: ‘He has not referred to any political event, personality. He was addressing future citizens of India who are students… In the Kashmir valley, youths were misguided first by people whom they trusted as leaders.’ Notably, the Army mentioned the K-word, betraying a desperate attempt to overstate the point that Gen Rawat was not referring to the CAA-NRC agitation. This, too, hints at the malaise of politicisation of the armed forces which is best avoided.

The ruling party rode on the poll plank of national security after the Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot air strike to secure a second successive five-year term. During campaigning, the PM himself hinted that the country was safe only in his hands, while UP CM Adityanath had the cheek to dub the Army as ‘Modiji ki sena’. Amid the political grandstanding, the onus is on the defenders of our borders to uphold their glorious tradition of staying apolitical. After all, they have always fought for the nation, not for any party. And it’s here that the forces need true leaders.