To
General Upendra Dwivedi,
Chief of the Army Staff,
Indian Army.
Subject: The press photo of your recent meeting with a foreign dignitary.
General saheb,
Jai Hind.
Kindly refer to the picture below:
Source: News On Air
This, Sir, is you, General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army.
The person you are hugging is Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, Chief of the Australian Army, who, as you know, is on a four-day visit to India for “enhancing bilateral Defence Cooperation, deepening military-to-military engagement, and reinforcing the shared commitment to regional stability and global peace”.
Sir, I have never been in uniform. But I have been raised around it all my childhood, having lived in cantonments through my schooling and seeing men (there were almost no women in uniform in my time) who would unquestioningly lay down their lives for their brother officers, meet, greet, celebrate, and work with each other in close quarters. My father served in uniform as an IAF officer for over two decades.
My brother went through the NDA and the AFA to join the IAF too, and I attended all his passing-out parades and many squadron parties, been friends with his colleagues and coursemates, and drank, sang, and danced with them all. I have even smuggled them out of, and later back into, the Academy on Sundays during their cadetship in Pune.
I have seen how much they care about each other and how they wear their hearts on their sleeves. They are full of life. They are joyous in their everyday tasks because they live with the knowledge that they are in a risky profession. Their friendships go far beyond the norms of civilian camaraderie, forged in the heat of shared service, the separation from family, and the constant awareness of the professional risks. In their immediate world, their fellow officers are family. That joy, that warmth, is real.
And yet, when in uniform, it is held within the frame of discipline, protocol, and propriety. Greetings, even between the closest of friends, are marked by restraint: a salute, a nod, a handshake, a crisp “Good morning”. That balance between deep affection and formal bearing is part of what makes the services what they are.
Which is why, in all these years, I have never, ever (except for the occasions just after a passing-out parade or during perhaps Eid celebrations) seen two officers in uniform hug, and never as a form of greeting. Most certainly not when they are such senior leaders, in a formal setting, meeting in a professional capacity. This sort of “huggery” is, quite frankly, ridiculous. I wonder what your Australian counterpart thought of it. Unless, of course, this was for someone else’s consumption altogether!
Who is this show for then, General saheb? And do you realise this is the thin end of the wedge, the slippery slope? Are you willing to be held responsible for more of this happening at all ranks once you have normalised it? What sort of nonsense (pardon my French, but I am sure you understand the anger) are you propagating, Sir? Is this the Army you wish to leave behind?
Or am I, as happened the last time I raised a simple question about whether religious marks like tikas and vibhutis are permitted on military uniforms, to be branded anti-national for pointing out what is clearly a slide in the normally high standards of our Hind ki Sena?
I hope not. I hope you give this appropriate thought and step back from the precipice you are standing on. It is a dangerous step ahead. I urge you not to take it.
I remain, yours sincerely,
Kedar Anil Gadgil
