A thread on Army Chief General MM Naravane's inaugural annual press conference yesterday. It was significant in more ways than was imagined to be, going beyond the headlines and television clips. 1/n
First up, @Krishn_ has a detailed report on the Army Chief's press conference. 2/n indianexpress.com/article/india/…
Where I look at what the new Army Chief was trying to do when he started off by stressing the values of the preamble and the Constitution, unprompted. Also, where he dead-batted the two leading questions on taking back PoK indianexpress.com/article/india/…
The intention behind Army Chief's opening statement was clear: it was a course-correction, to pull the Army away from political controversy back into its professional domain. He was pre-empting the criticism that the armed forces had become politicised under the current govt 4/n
Never in public memory has an Army Chief said so categorically that the Army is deployed on the borders to defend the core values in the preamble — justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity — for every Indian. It has always been said that the Army serves the govt of the day.
Despite raising the Constitution, Gen Naravane was not wading into territory of protests: he was trying to arrive at a formulation where any political party/ ideology, including those in the govt, did not figure in any manner. That was the only way to sound completely apolitical.
He also deflected a very straight question about violence against students in JNU, choosing not to answer it while holding forth on the value of NDA. To senior army officers speaking on CAA, he again resorted to talking about the Constitution and the Fundamental Rights.
To a suggestion that he should continue speaking out like his predecessor, Gen Narawane said: “Indian Army believes in doing its job and we are not seeking any publicity. We will continue in the same way of serving the nation to the best of our ability”. Quite a refreshing change
Finally, the capturing PoK answers. If there is a leading question, they were those, egging on with statements by cabinet ministers. Army Chief dead batted them, mentioned 1994 parliamentary resolution, and like head of a professional army in a democracy, said 'if asked by govt'.
The PoK answers, in isolation, without the context and the question can give a misleading impression of belligerence and bombastic statements, but all of us present there know that it in fact went the other way. A calm, composed and professional response befitting a democracy.
Lastly, the most important lines from the Army Chief in the presser were about rebalancing towards China, and two-front collusive threat. And another one about defining the Army's primary role: whether it was conventional war or counterinsurgency.
n/n Overall, the Army Chief's presser was a refreshing change from the recent past (and that was the general consensus among the journalists as the presser ended). Let's hope he succeeds in his attempt at course correction. Thread Ends.
