India’s Death Mines

India’s Death Mines Chrysotile asbestos is banned the world over, except in India. MADHUMITA DUTTA questions the state’s silence as millions of workers die of exposure ON THE eve of the fourth Conference of Parties (COP) of the Rotterdam Convention, a UN treaty on chemicals, held last month in Rome, at stake was the fate of two dangerous substances — the industrial chemical, chrysotile asbestos and the pesticide, Endosulphan. African and Asian nations, the EU and environmental and labour activists lobbied hard to include them in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) list, a legally-binding mechanism that ensures sharing of information on hazardous substances between trading nations, so that importing countries can make an informed decision. However, the Indian industry and, disappointingly, the Indian Government, had other ideas. Next in line? A worker in the Cuddapah asbestos mines of Andhra Pradesh will become ill in a few years Photo: P. MADHAVAN Since the Convention works on the principle of consensus, even a single country upsets the apple-cart. A chemical comes up for listing only after its case has been examined by the Chemical Review Committee, which consists of members nominated by parties to the convention. For the past two COPs, India has been obstructing the PIC listing of chrysotile asbestos, a fibrous mineral used in building materials, on specious grounds. The story in Rome was no different, except that this time India invoked science to defend its position. The Indian delegation informed the world: “We have commissioned a health study by the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) to understand the health impact of chrysotile asbestos on Indian workers. It will be completed in 2010 and until then we cannot take a decision.” Essentially, India is pleading that it doesn’t yet have the clinching evidence to say that chrysotile asbestos kills workers in India. But the much-touted NIOH study is tarnished by conflict of interest, as it is funded in part by the asbestos industry. Indeed, nine independent international public health scientists have dismissed the study as “methodologically incomplete and (having) insufficient evidence with misinterpreted data.” The scientists have suggested that the study had been so designed as not to find any health problem. Millions of workers in the unorga - nised construction sector are exposed to chrysotile asbestos every day in India. Over 100,000 work in the asbestos cement product industry, where 95 percent of chrysotile asbestos is used, mostly imported from the Russian Federation and Canada. Responding to India and a few others opposing the listing, the Director of Public Health and Environment from the World Health Organisation said: “While we are here in Rome, some of the 90,000 people that die each year from asbestosrelated diseases due to occupational exposure will lose their lives. All deaths related to asbestos can be prevented. About 125 million people in the world are exposed to this health threat at the workplace. At what cost? In Europe alone, the 400,000 asbestos-related cancer deaths expected over the next few decades would result in at least $500 billion costs for insurance and compensation.” But India need not worry about bearing the burden of such an immense indemnity. In the last 40 years of asbestos use in this country, India has compensated only 37 cases! While over 100 corporations in Europe and the US have gone bankrupt paying liability to asbestos victims and their families, the Indian asbestos cement industry is thriving, with a turnover of Rs 3,000 crore. The industrialists were present in full force in Rome, hobnobbing with the Indian delegation. At one of the crucial side meetings organised by the President of the Rotterdam Secretariat in a bid to break the deadlock created by India, all pretences of separate entities were dropped. The Indian chemical industry spoke on behalf of the Indian Government. Wedged between chemical industry representatives, the ‘official’ Indian delegate merely nodded in agreement. On the closing day of the plenary, India’s obstructionist position would have brought it dangerously close to being isolated by all parties but for diplomatic manoeuvring by the President of the Convention. In India, the life of a worker matters little — they die every day, unaccounted and unprotected, even as devious governments sign their death warrants at international conventions. (Madhumita Dutta is a member of the Corporate Accountability Desk — The Other Media, Chennai) From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 48, Dated Dec 06, 2008

Hemant Karkare

‘There is enough evidence against Col Purohit; we will present it in court’ ATS chief Hemant Karkare told RANA AYYUB, shortly before his death in the Mumbai terror attacks, that more army officers will not be arrested The 2008 Malegaon blasts investigations have, for the first time, linked the right wing organisations to terrorist acts in the country. ATS Joint commissioner Hemant Karkare was spearheading the investigation. In an interview with TEHELKA, he had clarified the ATS stand on the conflicting reports that have been trickling out regarding the investigations. The investigator Hemant Karkare insisted that there is no political pressure on him or his team Photo: DEEPAK SALVI Reports suggest that VHP strongman Pravin Togadia funded Abhinav Bharat, the organisation which is allegedly involved in the Malegaon blasts? Has this been confirmed? There was a reference to his name during the investigation, but that has nothing to do with the Malegaon blasts investigations of 2008. At this point of time, we are only looking into the 2008 blasts. Will Pravin Togadia be questioned, since his name has also cropped up in the narco tests done on the accused in the Nanded blasts of 2006? No, as of now there is no evidence against him. As I said earlier, we are looking at only the Malegaon blasts, so there is no question of interrogating Pravin Togadia. Reports suggest the involvement of high-profile seers in the Malegaon blasts. Has the ATS got proof of this? We are not looking at seers or saints in relation to the Malegaon blasts. We are not looking at people from a particular community when we question them. We are just detaining people on the basis of evidence. As for Dayanand Pandey, he has proclaimed himself to be a seer. There are a lot of people going around claiming to be saints. Was Swami Aseemanand from Dangs involved in other blasts, including the one at Ajmer, as reports suggest? A reference has been made to his name during the investigations, we cannot divulge much at this stage. These people might not have been seers. Aseemanand could also have taken the garb of a seer. While presenting its case, the ATS said that there was a possibility of those arrested in the Malegaon blasts case also being involved in the blasts that took place in the Marathwada region in 2006. Is there evidence to prove this? Has the ATS been able to link those arrested to other blasts? There are agencies that have been looking at the various links, namely the CBI, which has been looking at the Malegaon blasts of 2006. The link we found is that of Rakesh Dhawre. He is a Pune-based counterfeit arms dealer who was involved in the training that took place for the blasts of 2006. He is the common link between the 2006 blasts including the ones in Purna and Parbhani, and the 2008 Malegaon blasts. Investigating agencies are working on it. There are reports that police officials from other states have been coming to interrogate those arrested by the ATS. Is that true? Yes, police officials from other states have been coming but that’s something which is protocol in such cases. They wanted to know of the modus operandi so that they could figure out if there are similarities to other blasts, in Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh. What they found out is something only they will be able to tell you. The ATS made a flip-flop on the links of those arrested with the Samjhauta blasts, which raised questions when it found no mention in the remand copy. A lot has been made of the Samjhauta Express statement that was made by the public prosecutor in the case. There was a statement made by the witness that Purohit helped in the procurement of RDX. That was a part of the case diary. It cannot be taken as gospel truth. What was wrong was the mention of the same to the media, although we had said that there is no such evidence of the same. The BJP has targeted the ATS for its investigations. Has there been any political pressure? We are here to do our job as an investigating agency and bring out the truth. Having said that, it’s baseless to say that we are working under political pressure. There is absolutely no pressure on me or my officials. We are doing our best to bring the truth out. Abhinav Bharat has come out as having played a key role. Is the ATS planning to question Himani Savarkar, its founder member? We look at individuals and not organisations when we carry out our investigations. We are not looking at Abhinav Bharat, we are looking at the individuals involved. We have not questioned Himani Savarkar so far, and as yet, there is no evidence against her. There are reports that an ATS team has left for Delhi. Is it true? No, it’s absolutely untrue. There were also reports that the army was not cooperating with the ATS with regards to information on Col Purohit and his leave records? I would like to clear this. The army has given cooperation to the ATS right from day one on every aspect of the interrogation. There have been reports that the army has not been cooperating with the ATS and that’s absolutely untrue. The army gave us his leave records and other documents, which we needed. Is the ATS looking at arresting more army officials? No, we are not looking at arresting or detaining any more army officials in the case. Most of the accused have alleged that they have been subjected to physical and mental torture. We are doing our duty as investigating agencies. Such allegations come during the course of investigations. But they are untrue. We cannot do anything about such allegations Can Purohit and Dayanand Pandey be called the key conspirators in the Malegaon blasts? Is this evident from the narco tests of the accused? We are yet to get the narco reports. There is evidence against Purohit, but we can’t reveal anything at this stage As the findings of narco tests are not admissible in court, does the ATS have substantial proof to nail the accused in the case? The ATS has been carrying out investigations. We have enough evidence against the people we have arrested and we will present it in court. There has been a report that Purohit and Dayanand Pandey had conspired to kill RSS veterans like Mohan Bhagwat and Indreesh. What do you have to say on this? Have those arrested confessed to the same? The name of Delhi-based doctor RP Singh too has cropped up during the course of investigations. Does the ATS have evidence suggesting his involvement? The name of RP Singh came up during the investigation of Dayanand Pandey. I can’t reveal much about it at this stage. As for the assassination of RSS leaders, some references had emerged but they can’t be linked to any organisation. Are more arrests likely to be made by the ATS in the Malegaon blasts? Do you also see the involvement of Hindu organisations like the Bajrang Dal, RSS, and Sanatan Sanstha in various terror acts in the country? The ATS had filed a chargesheet against the Sanatan Sanstha in a different case, but there is no proof to link organisations as yet with the blasts. We are just looking at individuals. Does the arrest of seers and armymen in terror acts suggest a trend? Col Purohit was just an aberration. Just because one man has been arrested it does not mean that the entire army is tainted. Tomorrow, you cannot blame the entire police force just because one officer is arrested. Have some other names cropped up during the investigations of the accused? Has the name of Nitin Joshi, one of the key members of the Abhinav Bharat, cropped up? At the moment we are looking for Shyam Apte and Ramji, who have been named in the investigations. They played an important role and are absconding. WRITER’S EMAIL: rana@tehelka.com From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 48, Dated Dec 06, 2008

Someone Watching Over You

Vivan Mehra You're not alone: The Net's just a bit too social

TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL: NET PRIVACY

Someone Watching Over You

On the Net, confidential information is monitored everyday. In a World Wide Web, how much of a factor is privacy?

Pragya Singh

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Special Issue: Technology Special

Say No To Cyber-Snooping Get the latest browser that allows you to delete cookies as-you-go. Delete browsing history regularly. Learn the basics of encrypting your e-mail; it's fairly easy to do Use anonymous browsing facilities; get it from Internet Explorer, Chrome Actually read the "privacy policy" while registering on websites Learn how to protect your Orkut/Facebook pictures from showing up all over the Net *** There are times in the weekend when Prasanth Mohanachandran's days merge into one long sleepless marathon trawl. He's seeking to see what others are doing, you and I on the Internet. Say, would this group on Orkut want to buy blue jeans? Would another on Facebook want to rent DVDs? Who would click through an advertisement on their profile page? Like Mohanachandran, who is V-P, Digital Services, OgilvyOne Worldwide, marketers today are grappling with many such questions. Especially since earlier this year, when India's online population officially zoomed to worldwide No. 5. Make no mistake: for all the hand-wringing over low Net penetration, 50 million users is still big business. Unbeknownst to us, the numbers chase is also changing the way we surf, what we end up seeing online. When we send an e-mail on birthdays, someone knows enough to spam us with fruitcake recipes. When we join an online group, thousands of other members "see" us there. Soon, if we google "flu", the medical authorities will be able to estimate if there's the potential for an epidemic in our city. "Sometimes I find even the ads that pop up next to my searches are so uncannily relevant to what I'm seeking that I just have to click through," says freedom-of-information activist Sarbajit Roy. What's complicating matters is that there's no doubt the Net is making our lives simpler. We already use it as a way to communicate, do business. As government moves data online, court cases, driving licences, even land records will be more accessible. But all this also raises issues about how much of individual information is "visible". Seemingly, most users don't seem to care about privacy issues online. Should they be worried? "Half the female, Caucasian public on the Net is probably male," Mohanachandran jokes, highlighting a classic problem with data supplied online by individuals. It is usually unreliable and has a short lifespan. Hence, it's hardly useful for precision targeting by firms. Besides, mass mailers were done to death a decade ago. Still, marketers have resolved an old irritant—people tend to lie about themselves online. We now accept that a person's digital identity needn't be reconciled with the "real" offline person in order to sell him/her anything. In this way, if we change our status message on social networking to "bored", online ads may try to sell us a joke book. Even when we "express" ourselves on blogs, we leave behind a mine of information that help firms "push" favoured content, services and products at us. Clearly, the Internet is getting transformed from the "anonymous" infobahn we all knew to a giant marketing snowball that eyes everything anyone does online. Is it impossible to use the Internet without bumping into ads you "want" to see? And can we be online without the feeling of being watched? "The issue here is the consent of the person whose data is being used, or who is the target of ads," says Suresh Ramasubramanian, head, Antispam Operations, at Outblaze Ltd, Hong Kong. "Simply getting his information on the Net is not consent.

Any more than if you leave your door open and someone walks in and helps himself from your fridge."

As companies innovate new ways to advertise more effectively, firms like Google are also getting a clear vision on how individual privacy need not be hostage to advertising dollars. Google, among the most used online services in India, has made "personal privacy an absolute priority", says Google India MD Shailesh Rao. "Our business is based on the premise of absolute trust...we don't give away, share or sell private data," he says.

Whatever the assurances, casual surfers need to stop regarding the Internet as a place where anonymity is guaranteed by default, warn security analysts and industry players. The reason people don't already do this is that privacy is an involved subject. Individuals have their own, varying expectations. Besides, on social networking, the rules of privacy are still being worked out, on-the-go.

Daniel J. Solove, professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, argues that there has been "a great dismay" over the concept of privacy for far too long. "Nobody can define it well, and there's a great struggle over articulating why protecting privacy is important," he says. It's not just personal privacy at stake here, though loss of privacy should not be a necessary price for being online, he adds.

Some of these issues are ticking time bombs. For instance, Roy says public servants are using personal e-mail addresses for official work. "They probably feel 'safer' on a service other than the official ones. This could raise data ownership and information-sharing problems in the future," he says. The widespread use of personal IDs, whether in government or elsewhere, also points to lax security preparedness.

In any case, many private e-mail providers will have to reveal all if asked to. Vinay Goel, head of products, Google India, explains, "We are very reluctant to give (private) information of subscribers out, unless the law requires us to do so. Google works with governments in respective countries and follows the law of the land." In the past, Google has been controversially flexible, censoring search results in China in order to gain access to the giant market.

India, which isn't known to protect privacy with a heavy hand, could have a bigger situation on its hands considering the spectacular failure in controlling spam or unwanted telemarketing calls. The good news is that unprecedented access usually leads to stronger restrictions. "The trouble is, many of them don't work," warns Ramasubramanian.

That said, the laws, and even some favourable court decisions, go largely unnoticed. Take, for instance, an SC ruling that people retain an expectation of privacy even when they share information with others. This went largely unnoticed outside interested online networks, as individual Net users do precious little in being vigilant. This, say experts, is something to watch out for. Mostly, people willingly divulge more information about themselves than they should, agrees Google's Rao.

There is another reason why privacy is at risk. Ironically, strict law enforcement demands require people to give away information that even the online companies do not ask for. "I would not say that people fully understand the (privacy) options available to them. Nor do many understand the implications of sharing more information than is really necessary. But law enforcement worldwide has imposed stricter and stricter information-gathering roles on Internet companies," says Subho Ray, who heads the industry grouping Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

In the US, for instance, there is a sense of fatigue with social networking sites and the addition of new users has plateaued.While that's far from the scene in India, it's an indication of things to come. Perhaps the interest in social networking will indeed ebb, solving these parts of the privacy puzzle. But the Internet isn't going away anywhere. The best recourse, as always, is being aware of the risks and taking protective steps like actually reading—and enforcing—privacy options. That will be a wise investment, believe me

A Much Tested Squad

PTI How bad the illness? Purohit being taken for a medical check-up in Mumbai

EXCLUSIVE: MALEGAON BLASTS

A Much Tested Squad

The parivar is at the ATS trident & tongs, but even the army is slow in cooperating

Smruti Koppikar

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"Hemant Karkare is a good Hindu, he is doing only his dharma, fulfilling his duty. To even suggest political pressure and fabrication of the case is ridiculous."
-Julio Ribeiro, Ex-Mumbai commissioner, Punjab DGP

"I find it very difficult to believe that an IPS officer can concoct a case or that the Government of India is foolish enough to ask the police to fabricate it."
-M.N. Singh, Former police commissioner, Mumbai

"Every bit of the investigation is being overseen by courts. People running it down are responsible leaders. Why abuse your own system, with which you may have to work?"
-Satish Sahney, Former Mumbai commissioner

***

For the saffron parivar, if there is a villain in the September 29 Malegaon blasts, it is the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). Its investigators, they say, have played out the script laid by vested interests in the UPA government. Hence the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya, Lt Col Prasad Purohit and some Hindutva activists.

While accusations from the BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal leaders are along predictable lines, ATS investigations have hit a stumbling block from an unlikely quarter: the army establishment. ATS officials have told Outlook that their investigation could have been smoother and faster had the army been more cooperative in providing the information they have been asking for. For instance:

Purohit forged documents to get a fake identity card for Sudhakar Chaturvedi, one of the accused, from the military cantonment at Deolali, near Nashik. The ATS wants to know if Purohit did this on his own, had help or if there were others he had similarly "helped."

Purohit also used his position and access to procure an arms licence for a revolver Chaturvedi owned from the army quota. The army hasn't confirmed this yet nor has it refuted issuing a licence. The ATS wants to know who else in the force could have helped Purohit in this.

The explosives and weapons used for training on several occasions were sourced by Purohit and stored in a gym he used while in Pune. The ATS wants to know if small quantities of weapons or ammunition of any kind went missing from the army establishments and depots Purohit was attached to or had access to. But they haven't been provided any information yet, say ATS sources.

Narco tests on Purohit revealed that he was in Mumbai on August 1 this year and set up a meeting with VHP leader Praveen Togadia at a Mumbai hotel. Togadia has denied such a meeting but investigators want to know if Purohit was granted leave that day or if his superiors knew of his 'Mumbai mission'.

ATS sources also allege that the army did not provide the officer's leave records immediately for investigators to correlate the timing of his leave and training camps.

The ATS was unable to recover Purohit's laptop for days after he was taken into custody though he had it with him in Panchmarhi, where he was last posted. ATS sources fear it may have been tampered with.

ATS sources say they have had to backtrack on their request to scan and interrogate three other serving officers whose names came up during the interrogation of those arrested in the case.

The ATS would also like the army to share a list of officers and men who were in close contact with Purohit at two stages—one during his stint in Jammu and Kashmir and later when he was posted at Nashik-Deolali.

Fearing it might possibly open up a can of worms, this information has not been made available to investigators so far.

The army took its time, allege ATS sources, to furnish details of the Secret Service Fund accessed by Purohit. Purohit has told the court that he has sensitive information which he would not reveal without permission from the army. And senior army officers say that the defence establishment would not like Purohit to share such information with the investigators.

This recalcitrance from army quarters notwithstanding, the ATS is pressing on with its investigation. Its strategy is to follow the law strictly, especially sections 154 to 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code, in the process of investigation and present it to the court. The intention is to sew up all the loose ends to make the case as watertight as possible.

On its radar currently is Nitin Joshi, who reportedly said Purohit told him about pilfering RDX. There is also Rakesh Dhawde, a Pune-based counterfeit arms dealer who is believed to have had a role in the 2003 blasts at Jalna, Parbhani and other towns. He is also believed to have had links with Purohit and other Abhinav Bharat functionaries, and is said to have played a key role in a Bajrang Dal training camp in 2006.

The BJP, of course, dismisses this as a "fishing expedition", as its spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad put it. Meanwhile, on November 20, the Shiv Sena filed a writ against the ATS in the Bombay High Court, terming it as biased and asking that the Malegaon blast case be transferred to the state CID. For the ATS, if investigating the bomb blast from a single clue—a battered and half-burnt motorcycle carrying the bomb—was tough, even tougher is this constant attack on its competence and credibility, says a senior officer. But ATS chief Hemant Karkare is not a man to give up easily. Through all the name-calling and allegations, he has been exhorting his men to stick to the job and forget the rest.

The last six weeks have indeed tested Karkare like no other time in his career, marked by his certitude, low-profile approach and passion for always doing the correct thing. He, like his teams, has hardly taken a day off since the ATS began investigations. He has travelled across states, spent days on interrogations, nights on collating information, hours on weighing clues and dispatching teams to work on them, supervising the legal procedure and so on.

The ATS, assert BJP and Sangh leaders, has no evidence, assert BJP and Sangh leaders. The informal parivar network is, in fact, hard at work to spread the word: that there is no physical or material evidence. The agency is also being charged with 'torture' of the accused, and compelling them to 'confess'. Both Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya have alleged that the ATS has, or intends to, harm them.

"This is exactly the strategy other accused in other blasts use," says former Mumbai commissioner and Punjab DGP Julio Ribeiro. "When they (the Muslim accused) said this, the BJP dismissed it as a ploy to derail investigation and demanded harsher methods or laws. Now the BJP backs the so-called torture charges." The parivar probably doesn't realise that the same agency has investigated blasts across Maharashtra in which Muslim groups have been involved. It was equally methodical and severe on them.

And the agency isn't being lenient on the Malegaon accused either. It has slapped MCOCA or the Maharashtra Control

of Organised Crime Act on all the 10 accused. This means the Malegaon blast case will now be tried in the special designated MCOCA court in Mumbai rather than in the magistrate courts in Nashik and Pune.

It also means this case and the accused will be treated like the accused in other blast cases as far as the framing of charges is concerned.

As for lack of evidence, Karkare says, "There is enough evidence and it will be presented in the court." The motorbike, of course, remains a crucial piece of evidence and everything else is built around it, but the ATS says it also has evidence on the group's network, its meetings and training camps, calls and messages, and financial transactions. The ATS has also lined up around 50 witnesses so far. "There is substantive evidence, corroboration of statements and linkages between all accused that are irrefutable," says an ATS officer. Besides, elements of the case are still being pieced together and some arrests are yet to be made. Parts of the "hardware assembly of the blasts", as investigators call it, are falling into place.

But till that evidence stands the scrutiny of the courts and the accused are pronounced guilty, the parivar will continue to vilify the ATS, paint the accused as victims and stymie investigations. This was best illustrated by what transpired outside the judicial magistrate's court in Pune on November 19 when officers of the ATS escorted the accused in. Purohit & Co were showered with rose petals and greeted with slogans. Activists of some right-wing Hindu organisations hailed him as a "hero of the Hindus" and stoutly denounced the ATS for its supposed "anti-Hindu" bias. The officers kept a straight face but some wondered if the sloganeering crowds had got their heroes and villains mixed up...

Something Not Uniform

AP Nation's pride: Indian army soldiers at a parade

DEFENCE FORCES

Something Not Uniform

Has the politics of manipulation breached the last bastion of our secular being—the armed forces?

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Officerspeak

Outlook trawled the net to source young officers’ voices on the communalising of the Indian army

• Malegaon was a backlash waiting to happen dismissed by the Indian military as another one-off freak aberration. One hopes our politicians will realise the country’s interest and security comes before their votebank politics.
  
• The Malegaon misdeed, along with previous other so-called "one-off aberrations", is symptomatic of the larger malaise afflicting the Indian military—of valuing competence over character and technical proficiency over values, where ends always justify the means. This response of the Indian military is nothing but a manifestation of self-negation overpowering self-realisation.
  
• The armed forces’ exemplary application of religion and community values is a lesson not only to fundamentalists, but also to the fence-sitters and the majority populace.
  
• At least people should know HOW COWARD WE HINDUS ARE. WE DON’T HAVE THE COURAGE TO PROTECT OUR SELF-RESPECT.
  
• As a 2nd Lt I was travelling to Ranchi when a senior member of another community made fun of my worshipping a Shivling and the dancing Shiva. Yes, I kept quiet and I was a secular Indian but had I taken a stand to defend my beliefs then I would NOT have been one. WOW.

***

If anything has been held sacred about the Indian army so far, it has been the fact of the unalloyed patriotism and secularism of its men. That certitude stood more than a little shaken on November 4, the day a serving officer of the Indian army, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, was caught as the alleged mastermind of the blasts in Malegaon on September 29, 2008. His arrest raised a whole mountain of questions. Is Purohit an aberration or is there more to the phenomenon? Have hardline ideologies begun to taint the thinking of the military as well? Have the politics of religion and identity—asserting itself in insidious and manifest ways—begun corroding what has hitherto been the bulwark of India’s democratic and secular values, the armed forces?

Exception or the rule? Lt Col Prasad shrikant Purohit
Photo courtesy: TIMES NOW

Politicians have never given up trying to manipulate the defence forces, ever since India gained Independence. One need only recall the disaster that was the 1962 war, Jawaharlal Nehru’s interference and the promotion of Lt Gen B.M. Kaul over more competent officers, including Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw.

But never did politics hold as much sway as it did during the Kargil war, when the BJP-led NDA was in power, and nationalist sentiment was at a Himalayan high. The first portent perhaps came on May 6, 1999, at the height of the Kargil war, when the then director-general of military operations, Lt Gen N.C. Vij, was ordered by the Union defence ministry to brief several MPs on the progress made by the Indian army in battle. Vij prepared a detailed presentation and, along with his counterparts in the air force and navy, made his way to an office on Ashoka Road in central Delhi. "To our horror, we discovered that this was the party office of the BJP. Left with no choice, we just briefed the BJP MPs and left hastily," says one of the three officers present at the briefing. "We complained bitterly, but no one in the defence ministry thought much of it."

The briefing was a first in Independent India’s history where senior serving chiefs were asked to brief a political party about ongoing military operations. While the incident has been debated and dissected over the years, marred by claims and counter-claims, the fact is that this was an incident that India’s steadfastly secular and apolitical military could have done without.

The same year saw the 3rd Division of the Indian army working overtime to facilitate the Sindhu yatra, an event that was planned and executed by the Dharma Yatra Sangh, an arm of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The then general officer commanding the division, Major General V.S. Budhwar, had brushed aside the army’s role in the function as routine. Not just that, the then defence minister George Fernandes had even co-opted Kargil sentiment, saying that the war had been fought on the banks (in the Batalik sector) of the Indus. Years later, the then army chief, General V.P. Malik, would condemn both the events in his book Kargil: From Surprise to Victory, under a chapter suggestively titled ‘Leave Us Alone’.
"There’s a clear majoritarian view in the military. The RSS has always had an agenda to infiltrate the armed forces, the intelligence services and the bureaucracy." Adml Vishnu Bhagwat, Former naval chief	He denied he was in the know when the DGMO was going to BJP headquarters or when the army was being deployed for the Sindhu Yatra. Now, however, he tells Outlook, "I have always said that I took up the matter with the prime minister. It is detailed in my book." Kargil indeed provided fertile ground for the politics of national fervour to take firm root. Scores of retired military veterans at that time found it natural to identify with the BJP’s language of nationalism,

and joined the party. The BJP even created a special defence cell—to man which it roped in generals Lt Gen K.P. Candeth and Lt Gen J.F.R. Jacob—ostensibly to raise issues of strategic and military value. In defence: Brig R.B. Sharma (retd), member, BJP defence cell The politics of nationalism apart, other lesser, stray incidents over the years have shown communal and regional assertion in the military. For instance: In 1999, during VHP leader Giriraj Kishore’s visit to the army hospital in Delhi, Param Vir Chakra awardee Grenadier Yogendra Yadav was asked to touch his feet and seek his blessings. In February 2001, Air Marshal Manjit Singh Sekhon, commanding the South Western Air Command, wrote to the then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, seeking his intervention with the prime minister to get a transfer to the Delhi-based Western Air Command. He promised to "tackle J&K and Pakistan as required by the government", and also "help people of Punjab in many ways". Invoking the blessings of the "Akalpurukh (the Almighty)", he hoped to become the air chief some day. In 2003, Tarlochan Singh, the chairman of the minorities commission, wrote a letter to defence minister George Fernandes urging him to appoint Gen J.J. Singh as the first Sikh army chief. Singh never protested or distanced himself from the letter publicly, even after he was appointed as the army chief. Earlier in 1998, months prior to the sacking of navy chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat by the NDA government, an unsavoury fracas had broken out between him and Vice Admiral Harinder Singh. According to reports, Singh described Bhagwat’s wife as a "half-Muslim, card-carrying Communist". While Singh retired, Bhagwat became the first chief to be sacked by the government. A disillusioned man today, there is no doubt in Bhagwat’s mind that the whole security establishment today is biased. "There is a clear majoritarian record and views in the military as well as the intelligence services," he says. He recalls briefings in the chiefs of staff committee, which were "communal and clearly biased against Muslims" and "assumed stereotypes". Bhagwat also remembers walking out of an army parade on January 15, 1996, when he was chief of the western command, and where Sena chief Bal Thackeray was among the invitees. "I, along with my air force counterpart Air Vice Marshal K.C. Cariappa, walked out in protest," he says." How could such communal politicians come to a military event? The RSS has always had an agenda right from 1947-48 to infiltrate the armed forces as well as the intelligence services and the bureaucracy." Those arraigned on the right side of the political spectrum dispute his view. Among them is Manvendra Singh, the BJP MP from Barmer, who continues to be a territorial army officer and is therefore qualified to speak on behalf of both sides. "The orders in the army are in black and white, as is life," he says. Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, who retired as the army vice chief under the NDA government, can’t agree more: "Right from induction, it is hammered into the officers and troops that there is no caste or religion in the army and everyone is similar." Congratulations: Newly commissioned officers at the passing-out parade at IMA, Dehradun Having said that, both however stress that the BJP holds more appeal to the military because it ‘speaks’ their language. "The language of those on the right has always had appeal for men in uniform in most democracies. I did a course in the US; 90 per cent officers were Republican." Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, Army vice chief in the NDA regime "The BJP speaks in a straightforward language which is similar to the language of the military," says Manvendra Singh. "Over the years, the BJP’s ethos has come to epitomise a commitment to an ideology that is equally clear and nationalistic." Adds Oberoi, "The language of those on the right of centre has always had greater appeal for men in uniform in most democracies. I have done a course in the United States and I saw 90 per cent of the officers were Republican." Indeed, the BJP’s views come closest to the military, avers Lt Gen N.S. Malik, convenor of the BJP’s defence cell and the son of a former Jan Sangh leader. But all this is not to say that the army has become politicised, clarifies Manvendra Singh. "To say so is completely wrong," he asserts. "The military respects us because the NDA government achieved several things for the military that had not been done in 60 years." Adds Brig R.B. Sharma (retd), a member of the BJP’s defence cell: "We stay away from serving officers but pass on our inputs and thoughts to the BJP leadership." VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore has a slightly stronger viewpoint. "We certainly don’t want the army to be politicised," he tells Outlook. "But the army has been made lame, and in places like Kashmir the Muslims have openly showed their dislike of the army. I am not saying there is any truth in the reports about Lt Col Purohit, but there are reasons for disgruntlement in the army." The defence cell’s joint convenor, Group Capt Vijay Vir, echoes this somewhat: "I always felt that we are submissive and soft as a nation. Given our size and strength, "The BJP speaks in a straightforward language, similar to the language of the military. Its ethos has come to epitomise a commitment to a clear, nationalist ideology." Manvendra Singh, BJP MP from Barmer why can’t we assert ourselves in international affairs? By conducting the nuclear tests in 1998, the NDA government proved our mettle." Ask armymen themselves, and they’ll say they still haven’t lost their spine. The admitted policy, they’ll tell you, is to stay out of all religious disputes. Which is why, when the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board activists took to the streets in Jammu, army headquarters instructed its formation commanders not to get involved in quelling the protests. "It was a religious issue. We have already been alienated by a section of the population in the Kashmir Valley. We don’t want people in Jammu too to be alienated from the army," a senior officer told Outlook on condition of anonymity. Army headquarters was worried, say sources, that any role in quelling the protests could adversely affect the troops since the leaders of the movement were ex-servicemen. But since they were leading a protest on religious lines, senior officers feared that the army’s role could be given a communal colour, something that was pointed out repeatedly at internal army briefings. "It was a difficult assignment, so we had to keep out," says the officer. "But the constant involvement of the army in maintaining law and order is unhealthy.We can’t be quelling down protests by Gujjars one day and then tackle protests by Hindus in Jammu. The army has to be above it or we will lose our secular fabric." Some believe this fabric has already been rent, with people like Purohit having little qualms about wearing their politics on their sleeves. For the moment, though, army chief Deepak Kapoor has gone on record saying that a thorough internal investigation and profiling of officers and men will be done to "weed out such elements". There’s hope yet.