Following the leader

Dear Wing Commander Pooja Thakur,

I will never forget the impact of your presence at the Guard of Honor during US President Barack Obama’s visit to India last year. There you were, a woman in her prime, all khaki rectitude and elegance — the pride of India.

As the first woman officer to lead a tri-services Guard of Honor at a Republic Day Parade attended by the President of the USA, you stood as a living testimony to the progress, power, and potential of India’s women. More than your bearing and physicality, it was the clarity and conviction of your mind that had so impressed me.

Such was your confidence in your self and your abilities that even though you could have so easily played the gender card, you had not. Rather than distract from the dignity of the occasion, you had refused to do that, ignoring or sidestepping personal references and individual glory. And yet your image of quiet strength and solemn majesty had etched itself ineffably in the public imagination.

In a country with one of the most shameful records of gender equality, where the daily count of women being raped, disfigured, burnt, discriminated against and denied their rights is one of the darkest stains on our nation’s conscience, you had stood tall. Perhaps there was some hope for the future generation of Indian women, perhaps they too could break barriers, step out of Rubicons and be given their due.

So you can imagine my dismay when I learnt this week that you of all people had been forced to move the Armed Forces Tribunal in order to seek justice for what you described as the IAF’s ‘biased, discriminatory, arbitrary and unreasonable’ decision of denying you the right to a permanent commission. The fact that you, a symbol of what had appeared to be good and great in our country not more than a year ago, at one of the most important days in our country’s calendar, had been compelled to take such a drastic step was heartbreaking.

It told us clearly what we had always known: that India’s women, regardless of how brave or courageous or deserving, always carried a heavy cross. It told us that there were no golden moments, no moments of redemption, no pies in the sky. That even the most dazzling, the best and the brightest could not escape the wretchedness of gender discrimination and were not spared the ignominies and indignities of discrimination and bias.

In its defence, we are told that sources in the IAF say you are a crying wolf, that there is no reason to doubt that its rules and policies are equal for men and women, that its credentials for empowering women cannot be doubted, after all it is the first to ever allow female officers in combat role.

And as is often done, it appears to have thrown the rule book at you, saying permanent commissions are not doled out, that an officers, men or women, have to meet the laid down criteria. That in July 2015, for undisclosed reasons, you had put in an application for premature separation from the IAF.

That there had been 12 women officers in your batch and 10 of them had opted for Permanent Commission, but you had explicitly sought just an extension of four years and another officer opted to retire. Those 10 days prior to your retirement, you sought permanent commission, which was rejected, as ‘there is no scope for such last minute change of mind'.

Frankly, after your shining moment when you had captured the nation’s heart and imagination, marching in the world’s spotlight at the country’s Republic Day parade, it all sounded so shabby and shameful, so petty and so typical.

You deserve better, not because you are a woman or because you are entitled or a star or a heroine.

You deserve better for our sakes, because you stood for our hope, our promise and our progress. And when we think of you, we will always see the strong, courageous woman, who had led the combined armed services parade so effortlessly.

So this letter is to tell you that even as you take n the mighty forces of the IAF, you are not alone. If you glance behind, you will see hundreds of millions of women marching with you, hoping for your success and victory because in yours, they will be ours too.

So march on Wing Commander Pooja Thakur, we are eagerly waiting to see how you fare in this battle you have chosen. And where it will lead us too.
With a very special salute,

Yours sincerely, etc