Counting stars: Generals, think before you flaunt your ranks

The upcoming Commanders Conference (12-16 October) in New Delhi is tipped to take up a soft issue which has nothing to do with military strategies or strategic matters. But the very fact that the issue is set to be broached at such an elite and formal gathering of military commanders is an indication of its importance. The issue is to do with the flaunting of ranks by the rank-conscious senior military officers who take the fetish of displaying stars and flags – two symbols of ranks–to ridiculous limits, rather than displaying them just on their vehicles. In this context, it would be useful to read this interesting news story carried on Sunday by Times of India here and an insightful opinion piece published by a two-star general in April last year here. [caption id=“attachment_2454884” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: ibnlive[/caption] The second article shows the extent of the personal idiosyncrasies of soldiers, which range from making their caddies wear shirts displaying their rank during friendly golf matches, to draping their mules with garish cloth advertising their rank during their visits to forward posts in the mountains. A similar rank-consciousness is visible even when these “starred” officers undertake pilgrimage trips to high altitude shrines like Vaishno Devi and Amarnath. But a Lt General’s act of draping a boat with an official flag and three stars during the immersion of the ashes of a parent earlier this year, as pointed out in the Times of India article, has taken the generals’ fetish for rank consciousness to absurd levels. Incidents like these have been happening for decades. But “starred” soldiers must realize that they are living in changed times, in which the power of social media is increasing by the day. A general flaunting his rank while touring forward posts in Arunachal Pradesh or the jungles of Assam or the deserts of Rajasthan, whether in official or private capacity, could be photographed by a social media enthusiast and his pictures could go viral on social media within minutes. However, all this presents only one side of the picture. Officers from the IAS, IFS and IPS cadre, and those from other echelons of bureaucracy, are no less. Of course, it is true that if one sees a bureaucrat’s car, one can’t make out whether the car belongs to a joint secretary or an additional secretary, because the car doesn’t have tell-tale signs of a flag or stars. But once you get inside the offices of these bureaucrats, several things indicate the rank and importance of the occupant of the room, including the crockery used to serve you tea, the furniture, the curtains and the room decor. It is true that bureaucrats don’t wear their ranks on their sleeves literally as soldiers do. Yet, in an event where bureaucrats as well as soldiers are present, particularly in diplomatic events, it is clear who is the boss, as invariably the soldiers end up being the second fiddle. When the Commanders’ Conference holds its sessions later this month and takes up the issue of senior soldiers flaunting their ranks, it must be sensitive to the fact that soldiers have nothing but their rank to flaunt. This is even more so in the case of “starred” generals in the army, and their equivalents in the air force and navy, as there are just about 2400 of them in the three services. Indians must be grateful to its soldiers who have never been politically driven or greedy in stark contrast to our immediate neighbourhood, particularly in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The narrative should not be one of imposing restrictions on our senior soldiers with respect to the use of stars and flags – two power symbols which accord them special status. Instead, the narrative should be on sensitizing"starred" soldiers to voluntarily exercise restraint and discretion and not flaunt their ranks during their personal chores and engagements.