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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Veterans: dissent not treason -Anita Joshua

Veterans: dissent not treason -Anita Joshua

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published Published on Jul 31, 2017   modified Modified on Jul 31, 2017
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Several military veterans have told the Prime Minister and chief ministers in an open letter that "dissent is not treason; in fact, it is the essence of democracy".

"We can no longer look away. We would be doing a disservice to our country if we do not stand up and speak for the liberal and secular values that our Constitution espouses. Our diversity is our greatest strength," says the letter, copies of which have also been sent to the lieutenant governors of the Union territories.

Stating that what is happening today strikes at everything that the armed forces and the Constitution stand for, the signatories to the letter have said: "We are witness to unprecedented attacks on society at large by the relentless vigilantism of self-appointed protectors of Hinduism. We condemn the targeting of Muslims and Dalits."

As many as 114 retired officers of the three wings of the armed forces have signed the letter and lent their support to the "Not In My Name" campaign. Several veterans described the move by the former officers as rare.

Last month, several retired bureaucrats too had issued a similar open letter - a sign of how lynchings and other targeted attacks are compelling even sections that usually do not comment in public on sensitive matters to speak up.

The letter from the veteran officers will be particularly difficult for the BJP and the Modi government to digest. The military is a constituency the BJP has sought to nurture with care, using the imagery of the soldier defending the country's borders to silence debate on various issues, including some unrelated to national security.

Now, a section of this very segment has endorsed the "Not In My Name" campaign, which mobilised thousands across the country to protest against the climate of fear, intimidation, hate and suspicion.

The letter makes it clear that the veterans see it as their bounden duty to stand up and be counted at a time every voice of dissent risks being silenced.

The veterans have at the outset clarified that "collectively, our group holds no affiliation with any single political party, our only common commitment being to the Constitution of India" and that they have written the letter with a heavy heart.

"The armed forces stand for 'Unity in Diversity'. Differences in religion, language, caste, culture or any other marker of belonging have not mattered to the cohesion of the armed forces, and servicemen of different backgrounds have fought shoulder to shoulder in the defence of our nation, as they continue to do today," the letter says.

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The Telegraph, 30 July, 2017, https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170731/jsp/frontpage/story_164785.jsp


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