“Saffronisation” is a term that refers to the use of the Hindu religion and specifically Hinduism ideas, values, and symbols in the politics and culture of the nation, through education and politics. In recent years, the Saffronisation of India’s armed forces and intelligence services has spread across the country. It proselytized the political objectives of the BJP and gradually changed the nation’s security apparatus to adhere to a Hindu fundamentalist worldview since 2014 when the BJP replaced the Indian National Congress as the central government. The BJP, a confessedly Hindutva supremacist party, tweaked the security apparatus into one where the Hindu culture and history are preponderant. Recently, Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) R.K.S. Bhadauria, former Indian Air Chief, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of General Secretary Vinod Tawde and Union Minister, Anurag Thakur. BJP made sure that the Indian state security is a personification of its construed Brahmanical understanding of India, which is again rooted in its mythical history and culture.
The key characteristic of this process is the inclusion of Hindu religious symbols and ritualistic practices in the military. Hindu prayer rites and other in-service rituals have both featured extensively in the standing army’s use of these religious symbols. Establishment of Hindutva camps for service members, BJP-organized rallies and parades, uniformed military personnel, and other members of the armed forces have been spotted waving flags or banners with the saffron color, which is linked with Hindu nationalism. Moreover, it has been asserted that the BJP’s objectives have been served by intelligence collecting and analysis, including the targeting of political opponents and activists, and are closely connected to RSS members, which is a leading Hindu nationalist group in India and the ideological forerunner of the BJP. Hindu nationalist themes reportedly appeared in intelligence data and briefings, according to reports.
Interestingly, an Indian army was the founder and pioneer of Hindutva. In June 1909, a string of letters, titled ‘Hindu: A Dying Race’, written by Lt Col. U.N. Mukerji, an Indian Medical Service officer laid the foundation of Hindutva ideology. In 2018, CIA cables claimed Field Marshal Gen K M Cariappa, was attempted to assassinate by RSS but the facts and history have another turn as he was closely linked with VHP and RSS. A close relationship existed between Field Marshal Gen. K M Cariappa, who had a close affiliation with Vishva Hindu Parishad and Hindu Mahasabha which resulted in his policy of decreasing Muslim soldiers’ percentage in Indian forces.
After independence, a large number of Muslim officers opted for India including high-ranking officers but, except for a few, they were never promoted to higher ranks later. From 30-36%, the Muslim composition of the Indian Army has decreased to 2%. Unfulfilling the prognosis of the Armed Forces Reconstitution committee, the 339 VCOs (Viceroy’s Commissioned Officers) and 215 Muslim commissioned officers chose India at partition. Then, Indian Army Chief General K.M. Cariappa, ironically quipped that “Muslim loyalty seems to be primarily to Pakistan”.
Former Indian officials, Ramesh Upadhyay and Prasad Shrikant Purohit created the Hindu militant group Abhinav Bharat in 2006 which is believed to be a resurrection of the pre-partition organization, Abhinav Bharat Society. This group adheres to Savarkar’s theory of “armed struggle” and perceives the government’s leniency towards Islamic terrorism. This organization conducted the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings, Malegaon blasts, Mecca Masjid bombing, Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast, and Jalna Mosque bomb attack, resulting in 147 casualties.
Military presence in Indian politics is also obvious in the controversial role of their chiefs. General V.K. Singh (2010-12) was part of opposition campaigns and then joined the BJP government later. Joginder Jaswant Singh (2005-07) was affiliated with Akali Dal and VHP. Subsequently, the politicization of the military led to cronyism as General Zameer Uddin Shah was bypassed and the seniority of Chief General Syed Ata was also sidelined for the appointment of General Bikram.
In 2016, General Muhammad Hazir’s rank was first but had the Modi government not abandoned the long-cherished seniority criterion in appointing senior leaders, Lt. General PM Hariz, who served as the Southern Command Chief (mechanized infantry), might have become the first Chief of Army Staff since India’s independence. The government appointed Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat as the next Army chief, succeeding two senior Lt. Gens., Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, head of the Eastern Command, and Lt. Gen. P. M. Hariz, head of the Southern Army Command.
Bipin Rawat supported the BJP RSS agenda openly. He insisted on transforming Jammu Kashmir’s demography. For His support, he was made the first Chief of Defense staff post created by the BJP government for him. After Modi took office, things started to change. Under General Bipin Rawat, the army chief, the old RSS project received a boost thanks to the backing of the political and military establishments.
Former major general Yash Mor claimed that the neutrality of the Indian military had been compromised under General Rawat’s tenure and became infiltrated with right-wing propaganda. This polarized the force and undermined the integrity of the forces. For instance, unit-level prayers would be carried out overruling the past norms of individual prayer. Holding of public displays became prevalent such as the performance of aarti at military events such as official gatherings and aerial shows.
The “Agneepath” scheme of the Modi regime released in mid-June 2022 is the continuation of saffronisation of the topmost echelons of the army by direct recruits from the RSS-linked military institutions and the latest declaration by the Hindu-fascist government is intended to change the entire level of ground forces into a loyal cadre of saffron forces. Accordingly 46000 “Agniveers” will be enlisted each year and out of them nearly 75% will then be discharged at the end of 4 years, leaving 35000 of them remaining to serve as rank and file and the rest 25% will continue as front-line troops.
In due course, an entire military from major command to low-ranking personnel will work closely with Hindutva plans through a carefully monitored process from recruiting the Agniveers to the rank-and-file via Saffron centers. As one of the largest non-governmental and education organizations in the country, Vidya Bharati- an RSS affiliate organization, has started cryptic Military Schools These schools will be started on a Public Private Partnership venture of the Modi regime and 100 NGOs will send the volunteers to teach free in these schools. I’m talking about the clear affiliation of these INGOs to RSS-related organizations and other Sangh Organizations are infamous for their violence, and they are believed to hate Muslims more than anyone else. As the future cadres will come from the Adivasi forces in the region, there is a directive to be prepared such that they are assimilated with other officers trained at the Indian Military Academy and all these will be done within a short period.
Javed Bangash
The author is an Islamabad-based Analyst and holds M. Phil in Strategic Studies degree from National Defense University (NDU), Islamabad. He can be reached atjavedbangash769@gmail.com