Army chief General Bipin Rawat says if something affects the internal security of the country, by whatever means, the Army cannot turn a blind eye to it.
New Delhi: Days after Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat drew flak for saying that he supports the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the need to deport illegal migrants, he said Thursday that concerns over internal security do not amount to “politicisation” of the Army.
The NRC in Assam has become a political hot potato, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) talking about it in the same breath as the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which aims to grant Indian citizenship to minorities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — in the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The purpose of the NRC is to identify those who immigrated, illegally, from Bangladesh to Assam after 24 March 1971.
Speaking to the media on the eve of Army Day, General Rawat said the Army is not expected to get politicised, but if there is something that affects the internal security of the country, by whatever means, the Army cannot turn a blind eye to it, and this should not be taken as “politicisation”.
“There is a fine dividing line between military affairs and politics,” he said, adding that there are some areas which still overlap.
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Criticism over ‘politicisation’ of forces
General Rawat’s comments come amid increasing accusations of politicisation of the armed forces by the BJP and the ruling Narendra Modi government.
This includes the surgical strikes of 2016, which were endorsed by the BJP and played a defining factor in the party’s victory in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections.
The Modi government last year planned a massive surgical strike day celebration across the country, spending lakhs of rupees on related events. The decision was criticised by several military veterans.
Giving the example of Kashmir in this debate over politicising of armed forces, Rawat asked, “Should I stay out or should the security forces stay out of this government approach in Kashmir?”
He spoke about India’s victory in the 1971 war against Pakistan. “Was it politicisation? It was a political victory and a military victory,” he said.
General Rawat said that for any military operation carried out with government sanction, the credit goes to both sides, adding that in case of failures too, the responsibility lies with both.
He, however, did not explicitly mention the surgical strikes.
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The General’s remarks in the past
Last year, General Rawat had spoken about proxy warfare in the northeast by Pakistan with help from China and the “planned” influx of Bangladeshi immigrants. He had reportedly drawn a parallel between Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front (AIDUF) and reports of increase in Muslim population in several districts of Assam, stating that the party had grown faster than the BJP in the 1980s.
In December last year, General Rawat had admitted that there was “politicisation of the armed forces” and the military should be somehow kept away from politics.
In another comment, the Army chief had also said that there was not enough unity on issues among the veteran community and also that the Army planned to come out with a concrete plan for benefits to armymen who suffered “genuine” disability and their next of kin.