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Veteran's obnoxious remarks

Kashmir Times. Dated: 11/20/2019 1:11:12 AM

The govt and army must publicly condemn such toxicity and clarify that state and state's institutions cannot legitimize barbarity

The sub-standard television debates in the country hit an all-time low when an ex-army officer in a live televised debate, before a grand audience, exhorted the idea of revengeful murders and rapes. The retired Major General S P Sinha, who joined BJP in 2013 and serving official of the party, unabashedly promoted his theory of settling Kashmir with the revengeful policy of "death for death and rape for rape". The man in question is not only a blot on the Indian Army, the BJP and on the Indian media which has allowed such high toxicity to be exhibited on its channels so freely. Though the anchor of the show did ask the retired general to apologise in the face of protests by some of the co-panelists on the show aired on a Hindi television channel Bharatvarsh9, not only did Sinha shamelessly continue to call for an instant poll on the channel with some from the audience, including a woman, supporting him, she continued with the show amidst all the din. Her objection should have been forthcoming against the display of the highest order of misogyny that promotes a culture of rape in a show that she was moderating, making her a tacit approver. Though many army veterans took to different social media networking sites and criticized the retired general for his extremely vitriolic and unacceptable remarks, neither the BJP nor the television news channel came out with a public condemnation of the remarks. Some of the former senior officers of the Indian Army have even gone to the extent of calling for stripping such persons of their high ranks for such mindset and rant on TV channels. This is not the first time that someone affiliated with BJP has tried to publicly legitimize rape as a weapon or instrument of aggression. Some months ago, a BJP women's wing leader called upon "Hindu brothers" to gang-rape Muslim women openly in the streets. As a damage control, the BJP had stripped her of her position. This time, however, it has not even made a whimper.
The man in question has been affiliated to the BJP, which he joined in 2013, after his retirement; also he has held a very senior position in the army, which is supposed to be one of the most disciplined forces of the country. His remarks damage the prestige and image of the army, which has already come under severe criticism for rights abuses in Kashmir and other conflict areas. Several cases of human rights violation, including allegations of sexual abuse, have been pending against armed forces personnel for want of sanction for prosecution required under Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The iconic image of women's nude protest with banners saying, 'Indian Army, come and rape us' in Manipur more than a decade ago horrified the nation. Despite much documentation and criticism, probes in cases of sexual assault remain missing. Besides this, security force personnel have also been accused of tortures, murders, enforced disappearances and staged encounters. Though, the government actions and policies in these conflict areas have ensured protection of the men accused of such brazen violations, the abuse is not part of state policy. None of the state's institutions have ever exhorted such abuse as a legitimate form of punishment against the public collectively. It is thus shameful that someone who represents both the ruling party and was once a senior officer of one significant institution of the state. His exhortations can have a negative impact on some of the forces personnel already itching to exercise a vindictive and retributive form of crackdown on the population they are dealing with in various conflict areas. In light of such facts, the condemnation of Sinha's remarks needs to come from the highest echelons of power in the government and the army's top brass.