Removing 1971 War Surrender Picture Reflects Poorly on India’s Military Leadership

Such sacrilege in the Army can happen only in Modi’s India, where the military hierarchy has been neutered – and apparently motivated by Hindu nationalism, made synonymous with patriotism – to do the prime minister’s bidding. Several events have taken place in the last decade that have violated service traditions and ethos which constitute the vertebrae of our armed forces.

The Indian military is a creation of the colonial past. Any tinkering with it will rob it of its cohesion and stability. But dismantling brick by brick, the inherited legacy in the guise of pseudo Indianisation, will debilitate the very foundations of the Army and the other two armed services.

Modi’s off the cuff remarks at a recent commanders’ conference, to dismantle colonial legacy and draw lessons from India’s rich ancient scriptures, mythology and strategic thinking, have sent them in a tizzy. Each service is competing with the other to outperform one another. Much has been written about these activities like the kurta- pyjama becoming a formal Naval mess dress, geo-political discourse rechristened as Chanakya Dialogue, making highland bagpipes play lowland tunes and military bands playing hip-hop are some travesties of military customs and ethics.

The removal of Field Marshal Chetwode’s credo – no words can ever better it – and the 1971 war victory and surrender ceremony picture from the Army Chief’s lounge, under whose halo he  met visitors, is atrocious. Worse, it is replaced by a picture depicting Pangong Tso Lake, presumably representing Operation Snow Leopard in August 2020 in East Ladakh, with a medley of images from the Mahabharata, a snapshot of Chanakya and contemporary weapons.

Operation Snow Leopard was a limited action by stealth, not any campaign or war. The 1971 victory was outright surrender by 93,000 Pakistani military personnel who faced the greatest ignominy and insult of laying down their arms. It was India’s comprehensive military triumph in a thousand years. India became united India only in 1947. Previously, India was divided into feudal principalities that led to multiple invasions over the millennia. The 1971 victory was India’s jewel in the crown, to be kept on a pedestal for soldiers and officers on commissioning to take their blessings and oath of allegiance to the country from religious books. The picture can only be replaced with one depicting the Chinese surrender in the north. 

I can only presume that since the present generation of officers are of the counter-insurgency era, they have little idea of war fighting. That is why, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, elevated to that post after retirement, has said that Operation Pawan, which lasted 32 months in Sri Lanka, was “a minor operation”. Certainly our Army has done extraordinarily well in stabilising J&K and North East. But Manipur sticks out as a sore thumb. 

Some say that the Modi government only grudgingly venerates the 1971 victory, whose commemoration is tomorrow (December 16), as it was achieved during the Congress rule. The military, especially its sword arm, should not fall into the trap of reading the prime minister’s lips. India boasts about its strategic autonomy and multi-alignment, it is time the military claimed its own autonomy of being apolitical, secular and most importantly, professional.

In an era of AI-enabled deterrence, Modi’s favourite aphorisms, that this is not an era of war and ‘India is the land of Buddha not yuddha’ should not be taken literally. Ancient scriptures, good for Sunday reading, will do little to lift contemporary professional skills.

Two questions remain. Has the Army Chief removed the replica of the 1971 surrender from his office too? And, where has the picture removed from his lounge been relegated to?