Thread by @ColSanjayPande

LONG THREAD
1.
#AGNIPATH #AGNIVEER
-Dont ask me if it is good or bad
-Dont ask me to give a pro-Army fight
-Dont ask me to support political class

I dont see Agniveer as something to be commented.

My thoughts are purely my own and I will cover
-Armed Forces and Agniveer

2. -Recruitment up to Mar 2020
-Recruitment and Discharge from Mar 2020 till almost recently
-Agniveer in 2022.

Armed Forces and Agniveer

Veterans are screaming the most. I will start with destroying the ‘cacophony of arguments’ by Veterans that ‘Indian Army will be destroyed

3. #AGNIPATH #AGNIVEER by Agnipath”. Havent you already done that internally? Did you tell India?

Everyone screaming about ‘fabric’ of Indian Army being torn etc. Veterans need to look up and be honest to themselves. This regimentation is sheer nonsense.

4. A few Infantry Regiments cannot speak on behalf of Army. Veterans need to accept that the dirty nepotism of lanyard, place, entry, school, relation etc. is nothing but inbreeding. Infantry being highest in numbers leads nepotism pack followed by Armoured.

5. This has practised by Senior officers in service and after retirement. Result? They have lowest credibility today.

Here is my take on Indian Army. We have the finest fighting force where every Indian State is represented. Their pride is Indian Army. They fight & die for INDIA

6. The British notion of martial race, caste based regiments, dying for ‘paltan’ etc. was to exploit Indians.

Why are we ashamed to tell India that we have Caste, Religion and State Based units? Why doesnt any veteran talk on TV to tell that our Infantry,

7. EXCEPT for Brigade of Guards is 100% based on Caste, Religion, State composition? MAHAR REGT? SIKH LIGHT INFANTRY? Gen V P Malik is from SIKH LIGHT INFANTRY. Why hasn’t a chief proposed disbandment since it goes against Indian laws? All Infantry Regiments are BRITISH origin.

8. DOGRAS, BIHAR, PUNJAB, SIKH…the list goes on and on. In the #NepotismOfUniform INFANTRY IS KING, the RULERS, the ELITE and they must ensure that no one else comes up. Within Infantry they have their own nepotism. There are elite Regiments, Not-So-Elite Regiments and

9. Looked-Down-Upon-Regiments. Why don’t these Veterans speak about it?

Mechanised Infantry has 50% pure units and 50% All India Class (from all states). Are we to say 50% Mechanised Infantry is useless?

10. Artillery - just about 25% units are of pure composition, are we to say that 75% are useless? Arty units regularly bag championships at Div level beating 9 Infantry Battalions.

Air Defence - About 10% are pure rest 90% All India Class. Are we suggesting that 90% are useless?

11. Signals and Engineers same story.

All other services, EME, ASC, AOC, AMC etc. are All India Class.
As per an Infantry, 80% of Army is useless?
Now the argument will be put forth that only Infantry ‘fights’ & hence Regimentation is necessary. How untrue.

12. Since time immemorial, BRIGADE OF GUARDS has been the most sought after Infantry Regiment. Number 1 in Army. None could beat them in war and peace. REGIMENTATION IS CREATED. GUARDS was raised in independent India and has nothing to do with Brits. GUARDS is All India Class.

13. There is no counter to GUARDS.

RASHTRIYA RIFLES Battalions. Over 80-100 Battalions have 50 % INFANTRY component which is MIXED and balance 50% is balance of army making it purely an all India class units. It is THIRTY YEARS back that the first battalion was raised.

14. RR is the finest fighting force.

Am I to understand that as per Infantry RR is USELESS? It will be first time that Infantry calls itself useless since they compose RR with 50% strength. Few people cannot hold the country to ransom.

15. My experience?

I have served with:
1.Pure Dogras
2.Pure South Indian Class
3.Pure Sikh
4.Pure Ahir
5.All India Class
6.Rashtriya Rifles with three units composed of 50% GUARDS, BIHAR, MAHAR and SIKH balance 50% All India Class from every branch of Army.

16. This is my own experience. I ate with them, slept in same bunkers, cooked together in peace time, in operations and on Line of Control.

NO ONE HAS EVER LET INDIAN ARMY OR INDIA DOWN. EVER. In fact the All India Class become the finest of fighters.

17. What is the conclusion?
-Select veterans are venomous to ‘save’ the hold of Infantry over Army. Agniveer is a convenient SPV.
-Indian Army remains the finest army in the world but individuals, particularly the retired are bringing bad name to it. Doesn’t mean all is right.

18. -We need to abolish British practices that divide India and the army
-Indian Army must implement two measures immediately
-Abolish the complete institution of ‘COLONEL COMMANDANTS’, uproot it and demolish it permanently

19. -Make REUNIONS and RAISING DAYS a 100% Serving Officers affair. No veterans need to be associated with the serving. These are conducted to promote NEPOTISM of UNIFORM.

20. - Make a TWENTY YEAR PLAN to merge the twenty Infantry Regiments. Easy way is Second Battalion of each regiment to be merged, renamed, and made into All India Class. While 95% Infantry is untouched, each year a new INDIANISED Regiment gets reorganised.

21. There is NOTHING ELSE Armed Forces can do in the current controversy.

The three Chiefs are way low in the Security hierarchy. They need not even be consulted if the decisions are political. They have no choice but to tow the line.

22. Remember the famous press conference with CDS and three Chiefs on live cameras of 01 May 2020, Gen Rawat, on behalf of Defence Services is thanking all ‘Corona Warriors”, announced FLY PAST by Indian Airforce across nation, Indian Army to conduct Band Displays

23. in front of Hospitals and Indian Navy to display formations at sea.

Did it ever make any sense? Please understand that CDS and Chiefs have a role to ‘implement’ orders and nothing else.

Let us get to
Recruitment and Discharge up to Mar 2020
Entire organisation exists at

24. HQ level for recruitment. Training commenced from Training Centres in Army and the service came to an end from The same Training Centre where Records are lo-located.

Recruitment and Discharge from Mar 2020 till almost recently
Recruitment stopped,

25. all discharge from service were ‘local’ which means wherever the person was posted, he was sent home from unit.

Agniveer in 2022
I have no access to any information. I read all Govt documents available on internet. I purely analyse the events and try to understand the logic.

26. •Sudden announcement of the scheme points to tremendous hesitation Government had to let it be discussed in public domain.
•Decision to implement and road rolling any objection.
•Body language of Chiefs displayed either no knowledge or being ‘informed’ at last minute.

27. •No debates have taken place within three armed services on how to manage the candidates already selected in last two years.
•Executive seems to have spent huge amount of time on Agniveer. Bureaucrats just carried out orders.

28. •Since Mar 2020 deep discussions seem to have taken place within the ruling party on how to completely control the selection system and take it away from forces. The following needs deep thought:
oForces have displayed no intention to break away from British System.

29. oArmed Forces speak about ‘autonomy’ making it impossible for the executive to influence it.
oArmed Forces fight for autonomy and remain elusive
oArmed Forces have completely isolated themselves from Executive and are controlled tightly by few people on top.

30. oA distinct gap between the people who perform exceptionally well at unit level and the disconnect of higher level is prominent. It came to fore in Kargil War too.
oNo attempt has been made by armed forces to indigenise.

31. oGovernment is completely aware of Nepotism of Uniform and how it is destroying Army from within.
oGovernment has control over the Chiefs and CDS selection in totality, and now it has complete control over the lowest echelons.

32. oEvery year, four years from now, over 1,50,000 trained soldiers will be on the streets. Government has their complete data and can mobilise them at short notice.
o‘How’ it affects armed forces ‘internally’ is for the Generals to manage.

33. oWhat happens to Agniveers AFTER four years is not Armed Forces problem.
oWill the candidates for Agniveers be manipulated? Is a million dollar question.
o1.5 lac Agniveers on streets four years from now and year on year thereafter.

34. Add to it the regular retirement of those recruited up to 2020. 60,000 on streets each year.

WATCH MY VIDEO on above on YouTube
•My next Video and Thread will be on AGNIPATH and AGNIVEERS – analysing all Government documents in public domain.

35. LAST TWEET. Please search for #RadicalMilitaryReforms Since last eight years I have been suggesting to carry out RADICAL MILITARY REFORMS. Every tweet is on Twitter. Need of the hour is to destroy cancerous hold of few people over Army. Army belongs to Nation.