Army veterans, including eight ex-chiefs, write to President Ram Nath Kovind to stop politicisation of armed forces for elections

On Thursday, over 150 armed forces veterans – including three former army chiefs, four former navy chiefs and a former air force chief – wrote to the President and Commander-in-Chief to complain about the manner in which political parties have been repeatedly using armed forces for political gains ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The letter, shared by The Quint and The Wire, urges President Ram Nath Kovind “to take all necessary steps to urgently direct all political parties that they must forthwith desist from using the military, military uniforms or symbols, and any actions by military formations or personnel, for political purposes or to further their political agendas.” The army veterans have said that “some concerns have caused considerable alarm and disquiet among both the serving and the retired personnel of the forces.” They have also objected to the use of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s pictures in posters, along with the image of soldiers in election hoardings and campaigns. Here is the letter written by the group of veterans produced in full:

FROM A GROUP OF VETERANS TO OUR SUPREME COMMANDER

  April 11, 2019                                                       Honourable Shri Ram Nath Kovind President of India and Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi   Dear Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji, We, the signatories, are Armed Forces Veterans who have served in the defence of our nation in various appointments, in peacetime and in operational and war zones over the past several decades. The apolitical and secular nature of India’s Armed Forces has been an article of faith for every soldier, sailor and airman. India’s Armed Forces have loyally upheld the democratic principle of civil control over the military. Their military professionalism on and off the field, combined with the devotion to duty in protecting India’s territorial sovereignty and national integrity, remains widely appreciated. The soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Armed Forces owe allegiance to the Constitution of India, of which you, as President of the Indian Union, are the legal custodian. It is for this reason that the President is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and we serve and execute orders at the will of the President and as decided from time to time by the Executive – that is, the Government of the day. You would be aware that those in active service (men and women of all ranks in the Army, Navy and Air Force) cannot speak out, even on matters which might affect their interests adversely, since they are subject to military law and are governed by the parliamentary Acts of their respective Service. However, we Veterans being in continuous touch with our own military fraternity, as also with serving personnel at all levels, have a ‘finger on the pulse’, so to speak. And it is for this reason that we write to bring to your attention, as the Supreme Commander of India’s Armed Forces, some concerns which have caused considerable alarm and disquiet among both the serving and the retired personnel of our Forces. We refer, Sir, to the unusual and completely unacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes, and even going so far as to claim the Armed Forces to be“Modi ji ki Sena”. This is in addition to media pictures of election platforms and campaigns in which party workers are seen wearing military uniforms; and posters and images with pictures of soldiers and especially of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, displayed. We do appreciate that complaints by some senior retired personnel, including a written submission from a former Chief of the Naval Staff to the Chief Election Commissioner, have elicited a prompt response. Indeed a notification has been issued asking for an explanation from those responsible for these statements, including from the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. However we regret to state that these do not appear to have resulted in any substantive change of behaviour and practice on the ground. With the General elections round the corner, and given the prevailing environment where political parties and candidates seem to be acting in total disregard of the declaration of the ‘model code of conduct’, we fear that such incidents may only increase as polling day draws near. We believe that you will surely agree that any such misuse of the Armed Forces established under the Constitution of India and under the supreme command of the President of India, would impinge adversely on the morale and fighting efficiency of the serving man or woman in uniform. It could therefore directly affect national security and national integrity. We therefore appeal to you to ensure that the secular and a-political character of our Armed Forces is preserved. We hereby respectfully urge you to take all necessary steps to urgently direct all political parties that they must forthwith desist from using the military, military uniforms or symbols, and any actions by military formations or personnel, for political purposes or to further their political agendas. This communication is copied to the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India for information and action. We, the undersigned, endorse the above. Yours Faithfully, (*Signed *)

| Gen Shankar Roy Chowdhury, PVSM,ADC | | 3 | Gen Deepak Kapoor, PVSM, AVSM,SM,VSM,ADC | | 4 | Adm Laxminarayan Ramdas, PVSM,AVSM,VrC, VSM,ADC | | 5 | Adm Vishnu Bhagwat,PVSM,AVSM | | 6 | Adm Arun Prakash, PVSM,AVSM,VrC,VSM,ADC | | 7 | Adm Sureesh Mehta, PVSM,AVSM | | 8 | Air Chief Marshal NC Suri,PVSM,AVSM,VM,ADC | | 9 | Lt Gen Sanjeev Anand | | 10 | Lt General KS Rao, PVSM, SC, SM, Arjuna Awardee | | 11 | Lt General Mohan Ramdas | | 12 | Lt General YN Sharma | | 13 | Lt General Vinay Shankar | | 14 | Lt General Prakash Gokarn | | 15 | Lt General Vijay Oberoi, PVSM, AVSM, VSM | | 16 | Lt General MA Gurbaxani, PVSM, AVSM | | 17 | Lt General RK Nanavatty, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM | | 18 | Lt General R K Gaur, PVSM | | 19 | Lt General CA Barretto, PVSM | | 20 | Lt General ML Naidu, PVSM, AVSM, YSM | | 21 | Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh | | 22 | Vice Admiral DB Kapila, PVSM, AVSM, VSM | | 23 | Vice Admiral A Britto, PVSM, AVSM, VSM | | 24 | Air Marshal Vir Narain, PVSM | | 25 | Maj Gen A K Shukla | | 26 | Maj Gen PC Panjikar, VSM | | 27 | Maj General KM Bhimaya | | 28 | Maj General Jose Manavalan, AVSM | | 29 | Maj General Shiv Dev Singh | | 30 | Maj General Mohan Singh | | 31 | Maj General Harsha Kakar | | 32 | Maj General Rajendra Prakash, VSM | | 33 | Maj General GH Israni | | 34 | Maj General Anil Sawhny, AVSM | | 35 | Maj General IJS Dhillon | | 36 | Maj General Kshitin Pandya, AVSM | | 37 | Maj General TK Kaul, PVSM, AVSM, VSM | | 38 | Maj General ML Malik | | 39 | Maj General SG Pitre | | 40 | Maj General SG Vombatkere, VSM | | 41 | Rear Admiral Shankar Mathur | | 42 | Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai, NM | | 43 | Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak | | 44 | Brig A. A Ramchandani | | 45 | Brig UPS Pathania | | 46 | Brig Vinod Raizada | | 47 | Brigadier VHM Prasad | | 48 | Commodore C Jayaraj | | 49 | Commodore Rajan Mathew, VSM | | 50 | Commodore R Rahmathullah | | 51 | Commodore G Kailath, AVSM, NM, VSM | | 52 | Commodore Dinabandhu Jena | | 53 | Commodore Jal Postwalla | | 54 | Commodore PC Gulati, NM | | 55 | Cmde MS Chahal | | 56 | Air Cmde Sanjay Sharma | | 57 | Col Bharat Haladi | | 58 | Col Sanjeev Choudhary | | 59 | Col Krishna Prasad N G | | 60 | Col Mukesh Trehan | | 61 | Col RP Suhag | | 62 | Col Pankaj Fotedar, VSM | | 63 | Col Vivek Mathur | | 64 | Col Arun Hariharan | | 65 | Col K N Singh | | 66 | Col DM Sharma | | 67 | Col Shantanu Majumdar, | | 68 | Col Gurpinder Singh | | 69 | Col Ramnik Khanna | | 70 | Col Abhay Prasad | | 71 | Col Abhi Chatterjee, | | 72 | Col Manmohan Singh | | 73 | Col. Rajiv Kanwar | | 74 | Col Bharat Kumar | | 75 | Col Jayadev P I | | 76 | Col. Sujit Dutta | | 77 | Col. Lal Kesavan | | 78 | Col. Melwyn D’Souza | | 79 | Col Sanjay Dilwaria | | 80 | Col. K S Kamboj | | 81 | Col Shashi Thoomas Kilo | | 82 | Col K Kataria, SM | | 83 | Col MK Keshwar | | 84 | Col Maniish D Kachhy | | 85 | Col. Aparjeet Nakai | | 86 | Col CMS Babu | | 87 | Col RS Singh | | 88 | Capt (IN) HPS Sodhi | | 89 | Capt (IN) Rakesh Kumar Prabhakar | | 90 | Captain (IN) S Prabhala, VSM | | 91 | Capt(IN) Sandeep Kapoor | | 92 | Group Captain Ashutosh Srivastav (Retd) | | 93 | Gp Capt Rajinder Abrol | | 94 | Gp Capt D. V. Shukla, | | 95 | Gp Capt Philips Jacob, VM | | 96 | Gp Capt Satvinder Singh | | 97 | Gp Capt Deepak Mundade | | 98 | Gp Capt MS Sadanand | | 99 | Lt col Arvind Kumar Singh, | | 100 | Lt Col MS Kanwal, VSM | | 101 | LtCol Sajan Moideen, | | 102 | Lt Col Muruganantham | | 103 | Lt Col Ved Prakash Sharma | | 104 | LtCol  R Pankaj | | 105 | Lt Col Shantanu Rishi | | 106 | Lt Col Sanjeev Kumar Gupta | | 107 | Lt Col SPS Panwar | | 108 | Lt Col Neeraj Sharma | | 109 | Lt Col Shantnu Rishi | | 110 | Lt. Col. Gagan Khanna, DE | | 111 | Lt Col Satish Chari | | 112 | Lt. Col Akash Sachan | | 113 | Lt. Col PP Singh | | 114 | Lt Col Sandeep Chandorkar | | 115 | Lt. Col. SS Nath | | 116 | Lt Col JS Patil | | 117 | Lt Col Amit P Mathur | | 118 | Lt Col Jagjit Singh Judge | | 119 | Lt Col RP Shankar | | 120 | Lt Col NM Saksena | | 121 | Lt Col Raghawendra Singh | | 122 | Lt Col Shamsher Manhas | | 123 | Lt Col DN Yadav | | 124 | Lt Col Janak Raj Vatsa | | 125 | Lt Col Rakesh Mehrotra | | 126 | Lt Col Rajeev Rattan Kotwal | | 127 | Cdr MCV Jose | | 128 | Cdr KC Mahesh Giri | | 129 | Cdr Sam T Samuel | | 130 | Cdr Joji Tom Mundakel | | 131 | Cdr S Manrai | | 132 | Cdr P Pattanath | | 133 | Cdr HS Dabas | | 134 | Cdr Soumya Datta | | 135 | Cdr SA Rawool | | 136 | Cdr Sandeep Kumar | | 137 | Cdr RK Srivastava | | 138 | Cdr Shailesh Jain | | 139 | Cdr Sati Taneja | | 140 | Wg Cdr Gopal Taneja | | 141 | Wg Cdr Sanjay Bishnoi | | 142 | Wg Cdr Nilesh Gandhi | | 143 | Wg Cdr Rajiv Gupta | | 144 | Wg Cdr Sudhir Kumar Virulkar | | 145 | Wg Cdr SK Chopra | | 146 | Wg Cdr Sanjay Nijai | | 147 | Wg Cdr Kuldeep Mathur | | 148 | Wg Cdr SK Nair | | 149 | Wg Cdr Prashant Karde | | 150 | Maj K J Singh | | 151 | Maj P Sirur | | 152 | Maj Priyadarshi Chowdhury, SC | | 153 | Sqn Ldr Narendra Prasad Uniyal | | 154 | Capt Sandeep Shekhawat | | 155 | S/ Lt. (IN) RC Jain | | 156 | Lt HS Ahlawat |