Indian Army- A lesson on Secularism

The Indian Army is a fraternity that consists of a brotherhood that not everyone understands.

To understand the camaraderie and brotherhood that a soldier of the Indian Army follows, you'll have to dwell yourselves into the boots of a soldier of this institution and look deep into the morals and ethics that are taught during training. Putting it simply- "You won't understand it until you've been a part of it."

People from many different religions and ethnic and cultural backgrounds join the Indian Armed forces- Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Army. As I've mentioned before in one of my previous articles, their motivations and aspiration to join these institutions can be many but the one thing that binds all these people together is a sense of selfless service towards the nation and patriotism. No soldier joins the forces with the mere intention to cause chaos among enemy and their sympathisers or to cause death and violence as is portrayed by some radical elements (Mainly the Left) in today's society.

The Armed forces are an instrument of the Democratic functionality of India. The Indian Army had sworn an allegiance to the Constitution of India and fought to preserve the core values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity enshrined in its preamble. Just like the constitution of India, the Indian Army is for the people, of the people and by the people. Moreover the Army is deployed on the borders to protect these core values of our democracy from external threats and ensure the sovereignty of our nation. In this sense, it is true that Indian army is Apolitical and it should be! As far as politics is concerned, its the job and the field of expertise of the politicians and youth leaders or aspiring politicians and bureaucrats and not of soldiers. A serving officer or a soldier shouldn't interfere in political affairs of either the State or the centre. People of India are wise and capable enough to decide for themselves on the topics of which political ideology or party they should support.

In one poll Rally, UP Chief had dubbed the Indian Army to be "Modi Ji's Sena" or " Modi Ji's Army". This is a controversial statement as it's a blatant lie. The Indian Army cannot be Modi's army. It is as the name suggests- India's Army and the reason behind it has already been stated above by me. To put it in a simpler way- The army cannot be Pro-Political parties as soldier don't have that luxury, it is the political parties that can be Pro-Indian Army.

In Pic (From left)- COAS General MM Naravane, CNS Admiral Karambir Singh, CDS General Bipin Rawat, CAS Air Marshall R.K.S Bhaduria.

Moreover, some political leaders have gone as far as to claim the praise for Cross border operations and taking credit for approving such operations. It is true that Modi's regime has shown some spine in dealing with terrorism and giving a lose hand to the armed forces in the dealing with Pakistan and terrorists sponsored by it compared to the Indian National Congress's rule during which after 26/11 Mumbai attacks by Pakistani terrorists, the armed forces had tried to seek approvals numerous times from Congress to hit back/Retaliatory Action at Pakistan and avenge the attack but were not given any such permission.

However, another undermined fact is that there have been numerous Operations that have been undertaken by the Indian Army to get back at Pakistan and its army of terrorists that the ruling party or the opposition had no information of until after the completion of such Ops. These Top Secret operations or Black Ops have done more than enough to ensure our sovereignty. One Such operation was (Op Apache) of 2001.

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Secularism In the Indian Army-

In an Interview, Brigadier S.S Shekhawat of the Parachute Regiment gave a statement regarding the pluralistic and secular beliefs of the army and gave an example of an interesting approach in which officers are inculcated with this sense of Secularism. Below is the Video (Must Watch)-

Another exemplary proof of secularism in the Indian Army are the 'Sarv Dharma Sthal'.

Sarva Dharma Sthal or The Equality of all Religion means treating all religions the same: Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews etc.

Leaders from various religions stand shoulder-to-shoulder. One by one, they recite prayers and blessings from their faith, before passing the mic on to the next leader, who does the same.

During this entire process, all the armed forces personnel present remove their headgear in respect (except Sikhs, for whom the turban is an integral part of showing respect to the Gurus), and replace it once the prayers are done.

It is indeed a beautiful sight to see everyone coming together to pray as INDIANS, and not as factions of individual religions.

Another example of the thought process of an officer of the Indian Army can be seen in an interview of Col DPK Pillay by (Paper weight Entertainment).

Skip to 4:19 in the video to learn what a soldier thinks of all and other religions even in times of conflict

My Personal Belief-

The religion of a soldier is- Indian

The caste of a soldier is- A warrior/Protector

The Holy book of a soldier is- The Indian Constitution

The Indian Army as an institution is being harmed by dirty and communal politics and baseless allegations are being put on the army by people who don't even know the first four letter of the motto of the Indian Army.

"Service Before Self"

Also Read- Kashmir: Connection of the Kashmiri Youth with the Indian Armed Forces.

For another short lesson on secularism