and the government found it extremely convenient to ignore their silence without even a second thought.
In case a detailed study of subsequent pay commissions is carried out, it will be evident that year after year gross injustice has been heaped on the armed forces and they have been handed a raw deal. There has been no dearth of sympathy and acknowledgement from the political powerhouses, but none of those has ever been converted into real benefits for the soldiers. It’s a real gem of man-management technique, pay him peanuts but glorify his profession, and you can expect the fool to get emotional and make a supreme sacrifice for the country. This country only realizes the worth of armed forces during Kargil, or some other national crisis, and then prefers to forget all about the armed forces till the next crisis.
Its time to realize that patriotism is not patented by the soldiers, and in no way are they more Indian than all the other countrymen. If the government or the country thinks that it is wasting money on the armed forces, then it must seriously think of disbanding or down-sizing it. However, one has to realize that Indian history has been a mute spectator to the murky Indian politics, and the armed forces have been used time and again to clear up this muck. Earlier insurgency was primarily related to J & K and the North eastern states. Our policies gave rise to the militancy in Punjab, and ultimately led to Operation Blue Star. A similar lack of policies and clear direction led to first supporting the LTTE and ultimately fighting them, resulting in unprecedented bloodshed. Thanks to our politicians again that naxalism is spread to 14 states, SIMI is active in various pockets, Gurjars are disrupting life in Rajasthan and Darjeeling is burning too! And then, call the army to clear off all these issues! It is such a simple equation, and a never ending story of the Indian political game!
At times I do wonder that this government, which didn’t hesitate to write off huge amount of money for farm loans, doesn’t seem to be either convinced or sympathetic towards the soldiers. Was “Jai jawan, jai kisan” just a farce with short term political motives? And the irony of the slogan is, the ‘jawan’ is shedding his uniform in disgust, while the ‘kisan’ continues to commit suicide, meaning no real benefit has reached him in spite of all the propaganda !
After doing a little research, one realizes that the plight of the armed forces is due to the fact that it’s not viable for “vote bank politics”. It’s a fact that 90% of the armed forces personnel and their families never vote, so according to politicians, they can be conveniently ignored. Though postal ballot has been harped upon by the election commissions, it has remained a farce even after 60 years of independence. I have personally known officers who have served in the army for 25 years and have never ever voted, or have their voter I-card.
May I suggest to the ex-servicemen to do some brain storming and come up with some means where your votes are made accountable as that is the only way the politicians will listen. Because if they don’t, you can always decide to vote against them irrespective of party, ideology, caste, creed or religion, and your vote will make the difference. It’s only then that the “sound of silence” will be deafening in the political circles! Till then, the slogan remains “HAI JAWAN, HAI KISSAN”.

Jaideep Ghose