Religion and the Army

IN Opinion | 19/02/2006

You don`t say!

Darius Nakhoonwala

A policeman`s lot, wrote Gilbert and Sullivan in one of their songs, is not a happy one. That is true of editors also. Poor fellows have to decide what to editorialise about what to leave well alone. As a result the timid and the political always get exposed. Sometimes, so do the self-promoters who write a column instead of an edit on the topic.

So it came as no surprise last week that only three major newspapers wrote edits on the "how many Muslims in the army" controversy. The Hindustan Times buried its head in the sand, the Indian Express ignored it but the editor wrote a loud denunciation and the Deccan Herald looked away.  

The Pioneer with its BJP leanings went to town, the Telegraph said there was nothing wrong in enumeration and the Hindu said on the one hand, there is nothing wrong and on the other it is not a good thing.

The Pioneer was hysterical. "The real purpose behind setting up the Rajinder Sachar committee is insidious and cynical: to pave the way for Muslim quota in Government jobs … the whole emphasis is on pandering to the peddlers of Muslim votes in return of retrograde measures that will serve the singular purpose of weakening India`s society and polity and the supplanting of pluralism with communalism... the Congress has already whetted the appetite of Muslim leaders who have little regard for the nation`s interests."

The edit ended on a shrill and absurd note. "The committee must be forthwith disbanded and the task assigned to it by the PMO should be abandoned. Anything less than this will be tantamount to negating the secular principles that form the foundation of the Republic of India ."

The Telegraph took the opposite view. "Recruitment to the Indian army should include all sections of Indian society... There are reasons to doubt that this is not happening... The top brass should forget the old myths… Their response to the query as to how many Muslims there are in the army and what positions they hold shows how touchy the military establishment is... Why should such figures be kept under a shroud of secrecy? The Indian army is not above society…" and so on. 

The Hindu, poor thing, got caught between an ingrained sense of right and wrong on the one hand, and the need not to be critical of the government on the other. The response to the query was "overblown". "Vested political interests, imprecise media reports, a reportedly peremptory style of enquiry by the Committee, and some over-reaction by the Army" could be seen. "The basic purpose was to identify areas for government intervention". It added that "the allegation that the Committee has attempted to `communalise` the armed forces is completely over the top." Then came the balancing bits. "There is of course no question of communal reservation… anything divisive or diversionary must be avoided."

Several newspapers, however, have published articles by armymen, including Muslim ones, who have said the query is wrong. The defence minister seems to agree.

Contact: Darius.Nakhoonwala@gmail.com