India a very vibrant democracy where the military should stay far away from the polity, says Army chief General Bipin Rawat

New Delhi: Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said there was a politicization of the armed forces and the military “should be somehow” kept away from politics.

“The military should be somehow kept out of politics. Of late, we have been seeing that politicization of the military has been taking place. I think we operate in a very secular environment. We have a very vibrant democracy where the military should stay far away from the polity,” Rawat said.

Rawat was speaking at an event organized by the United Service Institution.

Rawat has been one of the most outspoken generals since taking over as the army chief of the 1.2-million strong force nearly a year ago.

In May this year, he had stoutly defended the use of a Kashmiri as “human shield” by a young army officer in Kashmir, saying “dirty war” has to be fought through “innovative” ways.

Earlier this year, he had also said that those anti-obstructing the armed forces in anti-terror operations would be treated as overground workers of militant organizations.

The army chief also said the norm in the “good old days” was never to discuss women and politics in the forces. However, these subjects were gradually “inching” their way into the discourse and this should be avoided, he added.

“Whenever (any) issue (of) linking any military establishment or military personnel where political entity comes in then...that is best avoided,” Rawat said.