Beating Retreat 2016 lowered the dignity of our soldiers
Republic Day is a time of national power projection. It displays to the world the comprehensive tools of our national power, namely the armed forces, their weapons and equipment, social and industrial development.
The grand finale held three days later, the "Beating Retreat" ceremony at Vijay Chowk, is attended by the supreme commander of the armed forces, the president of India.
This ceremony is a vestige from the days when armies retreated to their tents at dusk to rest and recoup, and to ready themselves for fighting the next day. Even today, a bugle sounded at last light in combat units, denotes the end of the day for soldiers.
So while the Republic Day has marching contingents from the police and paramilitary units, the Beating Retreat is almost by definition a ceremony exclusively meant for the armed forces, a nation’s weapon of last resort. The event is a solemn part of battle field activity. It is not a music concert.
It was thus disconcerting for me this year to see how far we seem to have deviated from the spirit and ethos of this ceremony. For starters, the ceremony featured bands from the Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
And, in another departure from tradition, Indian percussion and stringed instruments were also included, apparently for general entertainment. These deviations seem to convey people present there were ignorant of the significance of the ceremony which could explain this "more the merrier" attitude.
If we accept our roots and the sanctity of our martial tradition, we must not make any efforts to lower the dignity and honour of our soldiers in uniform or to dilute the customs and traditions they hold dear. It hurts painfully.