Recently,
I have been astounded by the activities on social media by retired senior
officials of the Armed Forces, especially former Generals of the Army.
The two
issues that seem to have ruffled their feathers are the implementation
methodology of OROP (one rank one pension) and Rank Parity of military officers
in comparison to the civilian bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defense.
OROP by
itself has been implemented by Shri. Narendra Modi’s government. Its
implementation may not appeal to all the officers across the spectrum of
military thought; but that does not justify the campaign to vilify the serving
Prime Minister of the Republic of India.
On the
issue of rank parity of military officers, many retired officers of Flag-rank
have taken to the social media to express themselves. While it is their right
to freely express their opinions on any medium and on any topic; they seem to
have lost sight of quite a few values in their enthusiasm to express
themselves.
The fact that these officers are upset about the rank parity issues
does not in any way allow them the lee-way to insult the serving Defense
Minister of our country. They forget that he is a graduate Engineer from IIT, a
respected former Chief Minister of a State and known to be a technocrat. In a
nutshell, he is nobody’s fool and can be depended upon to resolve issues in a
permanent fashion.
The
Prime Minister of India has gained the respect of the Nation as well as the
respect of people from other nations. And he has done so under extremely trying
circumstances, something that these officers can identify with after having
enjoyed career postings in some of the harshest terrain of the world.
As a
civilian who has no connection to the armed forces but respect them from heart
and soul, I have a few choice words for these retired Generals:
1) You
have reached Flag-rank positions in your career because you have the
intelligence and capabilities to be better than thousands of other officers who
retired as time-scale Lieutenant Colonels. Retirement from service should not
mean that you have retired your sense of propriety or good manners.
2) When
you were in service; you guided, trained and mentored your then juniors in
almost every aspect of military service and its interaction with the civilian
bureaucracy. Have confidence that you have instilled in them the correct values
and acknowledge that these officers, who are now occupying your former
positions in service, will do what is necessary and correct, to ensure that the
civilian bureaucracy adheres to the laws of our Nation and the policies
thereof.
3) If
you have an opinion or advice to the Prime Minister and / or the Defense
Minister, do contact them directly and express your opinion to them as
“Officers and Gentlemen”.
I am sure that despite your publicly unwanted and
rather bad-mannered rebukes through social media; both of them will receive you
with full respect to your rank. I dare say that while they may not be officers
in the armed forces, they will act like the gentlemen that they are. (Something
that you may want to think about).
4) Lastly, you have been appointed to flag-rank in your careers by representatives
of a democratic government that represents the People of our Great Country.
While you may not be required to personally like the serving ministers; both
the military code of conduct and basic good manners require you to respect the
office, if not the person holding the office.
Remember
gentlemen. The people of India respect you for your service to the Nation as
well as for your abilities and capabilities to rise to the ranks of leadership
in the armed forces. Your inglorious behavior on social media or on any other
public forum not only demeans you personally in our view; but also demeans the
rank and office that you once distinguished.
One important point: Not all retired army officers indulge in irresponsible
behavior on the social media. Many express themselves with wit and intellect.
Their articles and expressed views give reason for serious thought on various
topics and are considered carefully by those in positions of administrative
power. But then, none of these responsible officers who are thorough gentlemen,
have a daughter whose political career needs to be kick-started again and
again after umpteen failures; or have a group of retired officers supporting
this activity due to friendship or sheer loyalty.
And, to
all those who served distinguished careers as Short Service Commission officers
- You deserve our respect and our loyalty, because you went forth on an
adventure for a few years that many of us civilians wish for, but never achieved.
Jai Hind.
Author: ‘Sardar’ Sanjay Matkar
Twitter: @sanjaymatkar
Email: sanjaymatkar@gmail.com
