An Officer's Discipline Must Never Retire, Even When on TV News

An old saying goes “Just because you want to say it, doesn’t mean you should say it”. As the number of news channels, newspapers and digital news portals increase in India, so does the number of Veterans appearing on television channels, and writing articles for the print and digital media. Veteran Officers are the Officers of the Indian Armed Forces comprising the Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force who have superannuated or taken premature retirement (PMR) from their respective Services.

India has 392 news channels, 1,10,851 newspapers and a plethora of digital news portals. Out of the 1.38 billion (138 crore) population of India, 750 million (75 crore) have smartphones, and 73% of the smartphone users are accessing news.

With this kind of a phenomenal reach in the present times, whatever a Veteran speaks or writes in the media, has a great impact on the general populace because a Veteran has always been regarded as an epitome of sensibility and secularism.

Few days ago, a video that went viral on social media had a prominent anchor of a leading news channel speak of the gross misconduct that few Veteran officers espouse in the media on political and religious ideologies. This video touched a chord within, and I was reminded of two recent incidents.

One was of a retired Major General of the Indian Army calling the pre-1947 Indian Army soldiers as mercenaries on a television news channel. The other was a retired Colonel of the Indian Army deriding a religion on Twitter. The same religion whose troops he once commanded, and ironically is a second-generation army officer in the same infantry battalion.

This only goes on to prove that, either such views were latent for long, and surfaced only post retirement remain relevant, or such things are said to gain publicity in hope of some political largesse. And both reasons are scary for the Indian Armed Forces, which remains the last bastion for the nation when diplomacy, civil administration or the police forces fail.

Let us examine the utterances by the retired Major General and the retired Colonel and the consequences thereof on the Indian Armed Forces.

In every presentation to any senior dignitary visiting an army unit or formation, the first few slides are invariably of the glorious past of that army unit or formation. Most of the army units and formations have a history going back to pre-Independence days. This means that the retired Major General who called pre-1947 Indian Army soldiers as mercenaries either did not believe in the past history when he would have given presentations as a Commanding Officer, Brigade Commander or as a General Officer Commanding of a Division and was speaking about the history as a mere formality, or that after retirement he got enlightened that pre-1947 Indian Army soldiers were mercenaries.

Similarly, the retired Colonel who derided a religion on Twitter, whose troops he commanded, and in spite of being a second-generation officer of that infantry battalion, despised that religion while he was commanding the battalion but could not muster courage to speak up then. Or after retirement, he suddenly became aware that the religion whose troops he once commanded with great elan, now posed a danger to the nation.

It is indeed surprising to see such cases that till one is serving and in the “promotion sweepstakes”, all seems well. The moment these few get superceded or retired, they have a contrasting view to the ones they eschewed while in Service, or till the promotions were coming fast and fine.

Either way the Indian Armed Forces suffer, as today even the soldiers are on social media and regularly watch television channels. So, when they see their own Officers playing to the gallery on the media, in furtherance to their dreams and desires of success in the civil world, such utterances leave a bad taste.

I am yet to see a retired IAS officer or a retired IFS officer deride the offices he once worked in.

I am a seventh generation Army personnel, and a third generation Corps of Engineers officer. I belong to The Bombay Sappers of the Corps of Engineers whose troop composition is 37% Sikhs, 37% Hindus (Marathas), 18% Muslims and 8% OICs (Other Indian Communities).

In my regiment a Sarva Dharma Sthal exists which has a Mandir, a Gurudwara and a Masjid, all located together under the same roof. In the Regiment all personnel irrespective of the religion they follow, have to attend the Tuesday Arti, the Friday Namaz and the Sunday Gurbani in the Sarva Dharma Sthal.

For two years as a student of Class 3 & Class 4, I studied in a Christian school in Shillong wherein the students regularly went to the school chapel.

It has been over nine years since I took PMR, till today whenever I pass a Mandir, Masjid, Gurudwara or a Church, my head bows in reverence and in my heart can never ever come a thought of despising any religion.

The Veteran Officers appearing in the media are a role model for the nation, as during service they have united people. After retirement too they are expected to do the same on media as their juniors are closely watching them and any utterances on the media in deference to the teachings of the Indian Armed Forces, can have an adverse effect on the people known to them who are still serving.

Steve Maraboli’s quip “Why let go of yesterday? Because yesterday has already let go of you” should be a guiding anathema for the Veteran Officers in the media to remember to not forget the priceless teachings of the Indian Armed Forces, which makes it as the best organisation in the world.

Lt Colonel JS Sodhi (Retd) served with the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army, he is an alumnus of NDA, Khadakwasla and IIT Kanpur.

Cover Photograph - Files, representational