IESM: Chairman's Desk- battle for OROP

Date: Sunday, 17 May, 2009, 11:42 PM
Dear Colleagues,
In the wake of election results expectedly there have been a string of emails. In their tenor these have ranged from encouraging to negative. I thank all the senders for their effort and respect the right of each ESM to express his views. It is not feasible to send individual responses. I am, therefore, using the daily sitrep for the purpose.

It needs recalling that on 8 Feb 2009 we had had a mammoth rally at Jantar Mantar. That day I had announced support for Congress during elections, provided they sanctioned OROP. The announcement was reported in the sitrep that evening. The relevant extract is: “If the current government sanctions the OROP, we will fully support it during the elections. The converse was implied, though not explicitly stated.”

I do not recall receiving a single email critical of the announcement on the grounds that we were getting politicised or were aligning with a political party. It shows that some of us are mentally still in uniform. We find a high comfort level in toeing the line of the ruling regime. However, when it comes to saying anything in favour of any other party, the accusation of ‘politicisation’ ‘personal agendas’ ‘hidden interests’ etc start flowing in.

The Congress did not respond to the above call for over two months. We then issued a similar advisory in support of BJP that had in the meantime clearly committed to implementing OROP.

The IESM Core Group is not apologetic in having issued the advisory. This was the right course to adopt at that time. The Congress had already rejected OROP and the alternative to the advisory was a status quo that we have been having for a quarter century.

Our only agenda is OROP and will continue to remain so. The outcome of an election and the acceptance of that outcome in a democracy is as much part of a legitimate process as the vote or IESM advisory. None of these changes the fact that OROP remains as unresolved as ever and the task of IESM as clear as before.

Nothing has changed for the IESM. It is still as committed to OROP as before and will continue to do everything it can to pursue this issue however arduous and long the road.

As ever, IESM welcomes any genuine ESM input and will continue contacting those not on internet for their views.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM