One Rank One pension is Stuck; What next?

The man who betrayed his promise to the  common soldier

The COAS who must call the Shots

The ex-serviceman's agitation is stuck as the Government does not seem to be blinking. Despite retired soldiers of the age of 70-80-90 sitting and fasting in the hot sun  as well as signing memorandum with their blood  to the prime minister, the GOI is not bending one bit and there is no announcement on anything concerning OROP. What then next? This would be in the mind of the men agitating as they come up against a wall.

Obviously Modi and the government are playing dirty and have a devious plan up their sleeve. I had long written that OROP will not come and expecting the Modi government to sanction it, looked to me a pipe dream.  unfortunately many servicemen used to a orderly life and not aware of the intricacies of politics,thought otherwise. It was thought that OROP will come by ingratiating themselves with the government and Modi and hence no attempt made to cultivate the opposition and men who matter like the RSS chief  Mohan Bhagwat and also other political leaders. On the contrary to ingratiate and show the government that they had faith in Modi, they even spurned the offer of support of the Congress party. The thinking was that Modi and the BJP will be annoyed and will stop OROP. This was a fallacious thought and doomed from the word go and the leadership of the  servicemen is now left holding the Modi baby and not knowing what to do. The damage done to the movement by this short sighted approach is immense and now OROP will not come, fasting, blood petition or anything.don't matter to Modi and the BJP

What then is the way ahead ? Obviously instead of appealing to the BJP government something else is required. The Indian army is in fact on a very strong wicket and as the best and biggest organised force in the country, something has to be done by the army. in this the COAS , at the moment general Dilbagh Singh is a key player. This man must show some spunk and not say " yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full" as has been the refrain of the army chiefs from the time of Cariappa.

The ex servicemen's association must approach the COAS and demand action from him. It needs to be impressed on him that he must put pressure on the government and if need be he should be ready to resign. OROP will come immediately.

There should be a two pronged strategy to  simultaneously approach the opposition parties led by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. Not approaching him and murmuring like a sheep that our movement is apolitical is neither here nor there. The fear that Modi and the BJP will be antagonised  is meaningless. Not forgetting getting the RSS on their side. The RSS controls the BJP and in case Mohan Bhagwat is convinced OROP will come like greased lightening.

Other things being OK, the EX Servicemen's association must have large banners in Newspapers to announce how Modi and BJP betrayed the poor soldier. Funds is a problem and donations from the men and NRI's can be tapped. Once a concerted bid is made, I am sure donations will come. To rely on small contributions from ex-servicemen themselves is not going to lead anywhere.

This calls for a concerted action and publicly men who are turncoats like General VK Singh and Rajyavardhan must be exposed. Let the public know they and their ilk  are the Black Sheep , men who have like Faustus sold their souls to the BJP.

The road ahead is hard and there can be no laxity and calls for concerted action, otherwise OROP will remain a pipe dream as millions of soldiers go to the next world. Remember Modi and the BJP are not bothered, so give them a taste of a medicine they understand.

OROP: the Road Ahead, it may Never Come in the Classical Concept.

The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has recently tweeted that he was concerned about sanction of OROP and and he was clear that OROP will be approved. He also is reportedly to have said that he was in "discussion" with all the stake holders and trying to reach a general consensus " acceptable to all" .  Some where the Narendra Modi also said the government was in power for 5 years and OROP was sure to come.

The statement of Modi  is just an eye wash. Let me tell my fiends of a real time episode. One Captain Bhagat Singh who had joined the British Indian army in 1944 and saw action in Burma  had retired long back. He was getting a meagre pension and he looked forward to sanction of OROP, as it would be a boon to him. He waited and waited for 20 years and passed away last year at the age of 92, OROP never reached him. The man is my  uncle and I am constrained to say that this inexplicable delay is nothing short of a criminal act by the government and I just do not only include Modi alone in this band. All the previous governments from Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh have their hands soiled in this entire episode of sanction of OROP.

Now coming to Modi, one can realize he is a past master of twisting words and assurances. His culpability is much greater as he was the first man to comment and  assure repeatedly that One Rank One Pension is on the anvil of sanction. Frankly nobody told him to make these grandiose announcements, yet he made them as he was desperate to come to power and he assumed that a committed vote bank of ex -serviceman will help him get a majority in parliament. His game was simple, he wanted power and so did the BJP the party that he is a member off. So in no holds barred campaign one of the issues taken up was OROP. Frankly when Modi was making these announcements, he was not aware of the cost to the exchequer   and later when the cost was worked out he looked for a way to avoid sanction.

The Indian budget is gigantic. It is the 8th largest economy in the world and reports are clear that politicians have swindled 40,000 to 50,000 crores in the various scams. i am yet to see a single man or woman yet jailed for this gigantic theft.  Yet Modi talks of ( aided by that man with very little horizon,Arun Jaitley)of  extraneous things like " complex question." " stake holders " and what not. He has swallowed the line of the Bureaucracy and the finance minister Arun Jaitley  hook line and sinker. But mind you, he is not a gullible man and knows his onions. He has willingly accepted the arguments of the Bureaucracy and Arun Jaitley  as he feels that somewhere he must extricate himself from sanction of OROP. hence all he  has are words and words of which he is very adept.

I make it clear to friends he is buying time  and that is the reason he has mentioned that this government will be in power for 5 years. It shows he has a 5 year plan and in the meantime many thousands of old pensioners will pass away. Modi is not concerned with that at all and his game is to stretch this sanction as far as possible and once the next pay commission is around the corner he will just wash his hands away. His words and assurances should never be taken at face value.

The question arises what next? We have men like the CNS  Robin Dhawan announcing that ex servicemen should have patience. Heck what more patience does he want. Is 20 years not enough ?.I maintain that the top brass of the military have done precious little and left a hard working man like General Satbir Singh to bear the cross of fighting for OROP. In my view this is criminal neglect.

I would also caution the ex servicemen about returning medals and signing petitions. They are not worth the effort. The big stumbling block are the 3 chiefs led by the COAS. These men are known to the government as men of clay. In fact right from the time of General Cariappa when the demotion from Cin C to COAS was carried out the service chiefs have no say and they have put themselves in a bind. One fails to understand how an army chief heading the most organized force in the country has no say.

Water finds its own level and I am sure that the present lot of  serving soldiers wont be happy with this development. Most of them have strong and long ties for decades with the services. many of the parents/ relations  are ex servicemen. Modi has not realised that this non sanction  can adversely affect the morale of the army. Mouthing words and cliches is not the best thing to do.

The ex servicemen should look for political support and Rahul Gandhi looks a sincere man now. In fact Chidambaram the then finance minister included OROP at his behest.  Give him credit and Modi ? less said the better.
There is a need to bring media and others into the picture and educate the masses on the perils of a demoralized fighting force. Put pressure on the Armh Chief General Dibagh Singh to act. Why can't this man resign and show his displeasure? OROP will come immediately.

Non Approval OROP: Whose Fault It is?

Reports that are emanating from the government and the Ex-Servicemen’s Association clearly point to the fact that the ONE rank one pension in its classical concept will not be approved by the government. The demand which has been languishing for decades is nowhere near fulfillment. I have earlier also in my posts expressed the view that the government of Narendra Modi will not sanction OROP. The reasons are deep rooted in the history of the Indian armed forces and the type of leadership provided by the general staff. Successive army commanders, right from the time of General Cariappa have failed to impress on the government the need for a fair and equitable treatment for the army. One reason is the government from the days of Nehru has always viewed the armed forces suspiciously and feel it’s a foreign element and not a vehicle to project Indian dominance over the world. People like Nehru paid the price for this policy and had their reputation tattered. Yet, the present leadership led by Modi have not learn’t their lesson from history.

Another significant development is the failure of successive Army chiefs to bring any pressure on the government. This is hard to reconcile as the Armed forces over the years are literally holding the unity of India. As a stake holder in the Indian union surviving, the army should have been an indispensible part of the government plans. Unfortunately it is not and that must remain an enigma. The fact is the Army top brass has made no effort to bring any pressure on the government in this matter. Not, that it cannot be done. We have an example of general Thimmayya resigning when general Kaul was promoted Lieutenant General in 1955, when Nehru was prime minister and later General VK Singh went to court for rectification of his age. This in fact was a trivial matter, yet VK Singh went the whole hog as it was his personal ego. The army top brass could have used such tactics to get perks and privileges including OROP sanctioned. They never did, is another enigma. Perhaps they were not interested and left the battle to be fought by retired soldiers with little resources. The favorite ploy of blaming the civil

services is like flogging a dead horse. The civil services do the bidding of the government, in the present case Modi and party. It is Modi himself who has stalled the OROP, knowing perhaps that he will get away as the army has no teeth. It can hem and haw , but cannot bite. Nothing was won without a fight. I am afraid OROP in the classical concept will never come. Yes, it may but that will require a sea change in the thinking of the army commanders. Till that happens, its bye to OROP in its classical concept.