Opinion: Not religion, nationalism is sole inspiration of Indian Army

Taking a dig at those who recently whipped up the issue of religion in the Indian Army, Lieutenant General Devraj Anbu, General Officer, Northern Command said, "We don't communalise martyrs, those making statements don't know the Army well."

Having served in the Indian Army for more than a decade, I know for sure how the secular nationalist spirit of the forces binds our soldiers together.

Almost two decades back when I joined the Indian Army as an officer, I participated in the Mandir Parade which is a customary practice for all the soldiers of Army. It is called parade because everyone available must attend it and there is no exemption. All officers and jawans are expected to perform as per the religion of the regiment. If a regiment is predominantly Sikh then all will go for ardas and if Hindu then everyone will perform aarti. In some Christian dominated regiments, such as those populated by people from Nagaland and Assam, Christmas is a regimental function. If the regiment is dominated by Muslim soldiers, everyone will be present at the time of Eid Namaz and keep Roza.

It is a standard practice in the Army that all the religious places of different religion share the same premises and is called the “Sarva Dharma Sambhav Sthal”. It is a common scene in a regiment to see officers moving out of Mandir after aarti and rushing to gurudwara or church or mosque for prayers.

This is the form of religion in the Armed forces. There is another interesting custom in the Infantry Regiments which are primarily raised around regional (Punjab, Garhwal, Kumaon), community (Mahar, Naga, Jat) or religious (Sikh) identities. The newly commissioned officer is not sent to the unit but to the regimental centre where he learns about his men. He learns their religion, habits, language so that he can become one of them. Then only he can go and command those troops.

To put it simply, all the religious divisiveness cease to exist when a person joins the armed forces. The olive-green skin dominates all religions and faiths. The person joins a force of believers who are following only one religion- Indian, and that’s the peculiarity of the secular nature of Indian Armed Forces.

This was the reason why many of the Muslim Indian Army officers decided to stay back with their troops after the Indian Partition and refused the offer of Pakistani Generals to join their army even when offered a promotion. Here, I would like to quote the example of Brigadier Mohammad Usman, Mahavir Chakra (Posthumous) who chose to stay with the Indian Army and laid down his life saving our borders.

Indian army had been accused of human rights violation, and such accusations are common for any force operating in the disturbed areas but there had never ever been a single incident where anyone has accused it of religious or caste-based differentiations. This was the reason why Indian Armed forces could work in complex peacekeeping operations under United Nations.

In 1984, during Operation Blue Star, when the Army was tasked to move in, the soldiers removed their shoes, prayed for the almighty and then entered the Golden Temple Complex. They had been given instructions not to cause any harm to Harmandir Sahib. They laid down their lives but followed the orders to the letter and spirit. Such is the secular nature of Indian Army. On the other hand, at the time of great mosque seize in Mecca in 1979 even Pakistani Commandoes entered the complex in full battle gear and created havoc.

There are other examples too. When I was posted on the Line of Control in Poonch area, the Jat regiment was replaced by a battalion of grenadiers which had a company of all Muslim soldiers. The Jats had a small temple on that post. Soon after the grenadiers took over, the senior most JCO of the company appointed one of the Muslim soldiers to the service of the temple. His logic was clear, the temple belongs to the post and not to any religion. The person was responsible for not only cleaning the temple but also to light up the diya before the deity twice a day.

During the Kargil War, several hundreds of Pakistani soldiers were killed. Indian government offered their mortal remains to Pakistan but our rogue neighbour refused to identify their officers and soldiers. This was a crucial time and the Indian Army not only arranged the respectful burial of those bodies but managed to get maulvis and Muslim soldiers to do the Salat-El-Janazah for them. They are peacefully buried in Indian territory and the graves are periodically looked after by the Indian soldiers only.

Till date, the entire Indian Army avoids having non-vegetarian food and alcohol on Tuesday and Thursday, the two days considered auspicious for the Hindu and Muslim communities.

The Indian Army is the only force in the world, wherein I have seen Captain Ahmad with a tilak on his forehead, Major James bowing before Guru Granth Sahib and speaking fluent Punjabi, Lieutenant Chaturvedi keeping all the 30 Rozas and Major Gurkirat Singh decorating his house for Christmas.

There are people in this country who see the armed forces through religious lenses but the reality is far from their perception. The only faith Indian Army follows is the National Faith and no other faith comes after that.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)