Will Questioning Armed Forces Turn Them Winners?

People across the world, respect their armed forces and security personnel. Many citizens stand and salute them when they see their soldiers on the streets or at various places as a mark of respect for sacrificing their personal happiness and dreams to secure the national frontiers. However, in India, many question, deride and insult our own security forces. This makes one wonder whether casting aspersions and questioning the valor of our own armed forces will turn them winners.

Be it surgical strikes, natural calamities, eliminating terrorists and anti-social and anti-national elements, Indian intelligence and armed forces work under immense pressure as the so-called political parties and even gully leaders, NGOs and arm chair intellectuals question their each and every move. What comes as a shocker is that while the latter insult our own armed forces and deprive them off their basic freedom to act under adverse conditions, to the extent of even branding them as perpetrators of excesses, the same lot go to any extent to save and support those spreading terror and acting against the interests of the state.

Unlike the olden days when the then opposition leader, BJP chief Atal Behari Vajpayee, sang praises of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi comparing her to Goddess Durga for defeating Pakistan and creating Bangladesh, the recent past has seen the opposition parties questioning the actions of the army, from surgical strikes after Uri to the recently conducted Indian Air Force strikes at Balakot.

What surprises most is addressing an Army Chief as Sadak ka Goonda and terming actions of IAF chief as politically motivated. Despite this and still claiming to have not questioned the armed forces is just beyond reasoning. This double-edged commenting always helps the enemies and gives Pakistan an escape route at the international level.

Many opposition leaders shocked everyone with their comments demanding proofs of the army actions. This was in line with the demands by Pakistan and their army, ISI and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

One will be at their wits end as to what message we as a nation are sending when some senior leaders termed Pulwama terrorist attack as an accident and there were others terming it as a home grown terror strike.

Opposition parties accused the central government of using the actions of the armed personnel for it’s political benefit, finding faults with references to air strikes, surgical strikes et al. This makes one ask a pertinent question as to what stops the critics from praising the armed forces even more. Instead, in order to score brownie points, these very doubters belittle and insult our own armed forces and security personnel by questioning their actions. 

Most right thinking people and the analysts are of the opinion that the opposition parties are under the wrong impression that attacking government’s actions and questioning PM Modi, even when Pakistan and its backed terrorists attack the nation, they may come to power in the coming elections.

When a nation is grief struck with the terrorist attacks and in one voice demanded tough action against Pakistan for repeatedly perpetrating terrorist attacks, questioning the actions of the armed forces by demanding proofs is insulting not only to the armed forces but also to the people of the country.

When everything goes for a toss, opposition parties question how the Vajpayee led Indian government released JEM chief Masood Azhar during Kandhar plane hijack. But what they forgot conveniently was that Masood Azhar was released to save hundreds of lives of the passengers who were held hostage by the hijackers. Even during that time, Congress led opposition parties brought pressure on the Government of India to release the terrorists by forcing the family members and relatives of the passengers to protest across the nation. None of the family members demanded tough action against the terrorists. This exposes the hypocrisy of the opposition parties.

When Barack Obama, the then US president took strong action to nab Taliban chief Osama Bin Laden, no one questioned his actions or the actions of the US army. However in India, each and every action of the government and the armed forces would be questioned for petty political gains.

Many feel, the only solution to end this menace is to make compulsory military education and training to each and every citizen of the country so as to instill patriotism in them. Then only can the nation see more patriotic fervor rather than the likes of anti national elements shouting infamous slogans of “Bharat tere Tukde honge” fame.

Disclaimer: The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of N4M Media.