RELIGION AND THE INDIAN ARMY

Way back in the 1990s when one took the “Final Step” to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, little did one realize that the roller coaster ride we had signed up for would take us into some murky waters as well; chances of the conscience getting soiled and faith in the very core of Indian Army could also be shaken. Having been commissioned into a Sikh paltan, despite no exposure to the religion, it was embraced and a ‘kada[1]’ miraculously appeared on the first visit to the Gurudwara and has stayed since then. No questions asked and no questions expected and 18 months later when the junior subaltern arrived the same drill was followed with no cognizance given or taken to the fact he was a follower of Islam. Participation in the Mandir/Gurudwara Parade was a customary practice; it is called a 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. Such was the importance of the religion and it was not an individual choice but the faith in the unit and the primacy of the ‘paltan’ which superseded all other facts and facets.

Cut to 1999, a bright eyed Platoon Commander walked into the office of Adjutant IMA for his first interview and was immediately chastised for wearing the ‘kada’ and the ‘kallawa[2]’ tied on the wrist and given a sermon on why no symbols of religion were to be displayed on person. I walked out perplexed and wondering what was all the fuss about and swearing under my breath. Little did I realize that these very words would come back to me as a ‘flash back’ when I heard of some overt display of religious clothing by the family of an officer in the unit. Déjà vu was the immediate thought and the realization of the import of that sermon 21 years back. It made me ask myself also a profound question, how would we quarantine the armed forces from the religious polarization of the society and the calcification of stands on all sides where personal faith would assume primacy and challenge the core values of the organization. A tough question to ask when as a YO it was drummed into our heads that religion and politics were not to be discussed in the Officers’ Mess or anywhere else. Tougher are the answers to find to such a prickly issue.

Accommodating religion through state policies further entrenches the power of religion.[3] That said religiosity is a defining feature of the lived experience of many soldiers. The challenge for a professional army, therefore, is to acknowledge this reality and to harness the benefits religion has to offer while still limiting its pernicious effects. Religion presents the military with two possible challenges related to internal cohesion. First, religious bonding potentially provides both the issue and the resources for mutiny as it happened post Operation Blue Star. After all, it is easier to politicize religion among collectives in which soldiers already share religious beliefs. Second, recognition of the salience of religion poses the danger of interreligious conflict within a multi-faith army. For example, the religious cleavages common to the society could easily be imported into the military, causing it to rupture as has been the case in Bosnia, Lebanon and Nigeria. Because the army draws from and operates in a multi-faith society, it must enjoy the support of the population. More important, to maintain force cohesion, it must have in place mechanisms that will allow it to manage religious diversity effectively and maintain interfaith harmony.

In this volatile mix not to forget our friendly neighbor to the West who would leave no stone unturned to invoke these very fault lines and rejoice in epicaricacy if any such chasm could be exacerbated. There are numerous such attempts made with regular monotony, and to highlight just one such attempt is this book called ‘Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India: Armed Forces, Police, and Paramilitary Forces during Communal Riots’ authored by one Omar Khalidi. Initially published in 2003, the book has gone into a second edition and continues to provoke readers and tries to establish that Muslims are poorly represented in the uniformed forces of the Republic of India as a state design and not based on fair selection. In September this year, a social media storm was kicked up with claims that the Muslim regiment of the Indian Army had refused to fight in India’s 1965 war with Pakistan. Several users had been using the viral message to question the ‘loyalty’ of Muslim candidates to be appointed to the posts of IAS and IPS officers. Twitter user @FansYati shared this message on September 15. All attempts to sow seeds of communal disharmony in the country as a whole and in the Armed Forces as well. While we can blame the outsider always, the vitriol being spewed in whatsapp groups of course mates with respect to religion is such a rude shock that forced many of us to quit and walk away.

Under such persistent insinuations questions about the proper role of religion in the Armed Forces will start to intensify. Allegations will be made of favoritism towards one religion and at the same time, some members from minority would claim that their rights are not respected. Are the men and women serving in our nation’s armed forces are entitled to the same right of religious freedom as members of the general public. After all, military service does present unique circumstances and concerns that are not present outside of the military context. Religious diversity flourishes in an atmosphere of tolerance and respect. However, in the military context, there must be no reticence to attend religious functions of all faiths. I have personally witnessed officers leave aside men refusing Prasad in sarva-dharm sthal of a Regimental Centre. Interpersonal relations can be guided by commonsense rules but not break the basic ethos of the organization. The challenge is how and when to draw the line. There are no easy answers but just questions. We are expected to defend our nation, possibly sacrificing our lives for the motherland and what she stands for. The multi-faith Indian Army defends a constitutionally secular state, yet it remains a force of believers[4]. This poses distinct challenges for the institution. First, the military has to accommodate religiosity — faith and culturally embedded religious practices while establishing the primacy of institutional authority over religious authority in the minds of its soldiers. It is difficult to expect anyone to do such things if these freedoms remain abstractions or are shrouded in obscurity.

May be time has come that as part of their regular classroom training, officer cadre and soldiers should be told about the rise of religious polarization in India. They should be told how our country came to be home to so many different religious beliefs and taught about the role separation between personal belief and that of the organization. It is not safe to assume that this information is common knowledge among the officers leave aside soldiers. We should be taught to respect religious differences; it should be made clear to each one of us that respecting someone else’s religious choice in no way deemphasizes their own. A soldier can truly believe that his chosen faith is “right” and “true,” while still respecting a fellow soldier’s decision to affiliate with another faith and the idea of ‘sarv dharm’. There should be zero tolerance for those who fail to respect the views of others or who engage in activities such as slurs or assault due to religious differences. In recent years, some schools have adopted curriculum materials designed to instill respect for religious pluralism. This material could easily be adapted for military use. Such materials are not designed to change anyone’s religious views; rather, they stress the point that people can believe deeply in their own faith tradition while still respecting the equal rights of others and working toward common organizational goals. A theologically diverse army that is sequestered from the makeup of the nation at large is in our country’s best interest.

[1] The kada was instituted by the tenth Sikh guru Gobind Singh at the Baisakhi Amrit Sanchar in 1699. The kada originated as a protective ring to guard the sword arm of the Khalsa warriors during battle when fighting armed with swords. It acts as a reminder to dedicate all one’s actions to the service of the One Creator. The steel is a reminder that as a Sikh, one’s steel, one’s strength of commitment, will be tested; the steel metal itself is a conductor of the energy which gives courage and fearlessness to the wearer. Kara relates to the element of air.

[2] A Red thread known as Kalava is tied on wrist by Hindus before the beginning of a religious ceremony. The thread is tied on the right hand by males and on the left hand by females. The thread is supposed to help preserve or imbibe those blessings when it is tied around one’s wrist during the ceremony.

[3] David Laitin, Hegemony and Culture: The Politics of Religious Change among the Yoruba (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986). Pg 12.

[4] The army takes a “neutrality approach” to secularism, which emphasizes equal respect for all faiths by state institutions and has been preferred for centuries in India. This is different from the more austere “prohibition approach,” which enforces strict separation between religion and state institutions and has found favor in Western democracies. Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture, and Identity (: Penguin, Books Ltd. 2005): pg 16–19.