The case of Lt Samuel Kamalesan was a rare clash between an officer’s beliefs and the Army’s traditions, but today’s climate of politicised religiosity and a hierarchy pandering to it makes reform urgent.
Event commemorations, temple inaugurations, and multi-faith parades can coexist with the strict protection of every citizen’s right to belief and dissent.
Once it was established that Shivam Mishra was a tobacco tycoon’s ‘rich, arrogant, shameless brat’ who drove a Lamborghini, news channels went after the Kanpur police.
Sectoral insight report says while clean mobility transition is technically possible, India’s current transport system is not aligned towards the vision. It recommends a phased strategy.
By next weekend, Bangladesh will have an elected government. This is India’s moment to reboot broken ties by moderating the ‘ghuspethiya’ rhetoric in poll-bound West Bengal and Assam.
The author is a retired Army Cdr, one of the top 6 in the hierarchy. Hard to fathom this post retirement empathy on such a silly issue when he was in a position to change things. Did he? Nopes. Why does all this gyan and enlightenment boil to the surface post retirement in the top brass? Let’s address this issue first and leave cases of insubordination to the organisation and the courts.
I’m sorry but I’d disagree with the claim that this dismissal reflects a ‘colonial mindset’.
Such narrow-mindedness belongs neither in politics, nor in the armed forces. The officer’s misconduct lies not in his Christian faith (or someone’s hypothetical Muslim faith), but in the idea that religion, to them, is conclusive, exclusive, separative, and competitive (explained below). This view of religion underlies reactions like his, and it is precisely why the common all-faiths worship tradition of the military was anathema to, and ill behoves, an officer.
(Explanations of terms)
Conclusive: One’s faith is God’s final word.
Exclusive: No other belief system is valid or, as often implied and sometimes stated, even respectable.
Separative: All beliefs and practices not conforming to God’s word must be shunned and condemned.
Competitive: Different faiths are in a perpetual mutual competition as a means of salvation.
The author is a retired Army Cdr, one of the top 6 in the hierarchy. Hard to fathom this post retirement empathy on such a silly issue when he was in a position to change things. Did he? Nopes. Why does all this gyan and enlightenment boil to the surface post retirement in the top brass? Let’s address this issue first and leave cases of insubordination to the organisation and the courts.
I’m sorry but I’d disagree with the claim that this dismissal reflects a ‘colonial mindset’.
Such narrow-mindedness belongs neither in politics, nor in the armed forces. The officer’s misconduct lies not in his Christian faith (or someone’s hypothetical Muslim faith), but in the idea that religion, to them, is conclusive, exclusive, separative, and competitive (explained below). This view of religion underlies reactions like his, and it is precisely why the common all-faiths worship tradition of the military was anathema to, and ill behoves, an officer.
(Explanations of terms)
Conclusive: One’s faith is God’s final word.
Exclusive: No other belief system is valid or, as often implied and sometimes stated, even respectable.
Separative: All beliefs and practices not conforming to God’s word must be shunned and condemned.
Competitive: Different faiths are in a perpetual mutual competition as a means of salvation.