Devendra Kumar Budakoti
What is the matter, Boss? Why am I suddenly talking about the traditions, rituals, ceremonies and prayers of the regiment as a parade? Well, it all began when a Christian officer refused to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple or gurdwara of his troops. He was later dismissed from service, and after challenging the dismissal—first in the High Court and then in the Supreme Court—the highest court upheld the Army’s court-martial verdict.
In the Army, every kind of ceremony and prayer is a parade. Sunday Mandir and Gurdwara parade, early morning and evening roll-call parade, PT parade, games parade—everything is a parade. I recall my late father, a Colonel, jokingly or perhaps seriously telling us, “Hurry up with your Bathroom Parade; we have to move early in the morning to catch the train.” We still use the term “Bathroom Parade” at home—it has become part of our family lingo.
Thus, every religious and regimental ceremony is a parade with a set drill, performed by officers and soldiers alike. Any disobedience becomes an issue of indiscipline—first a warning, then battalion quarter-guard imprisonment for soldiers, and finally removal or termination through court-martial.
Lt. Samuel Kamlesan was commissioned into the 3rd Cavalry Regiment in 2017—a tank regiment of the Indian Armoured Corps. The regiment’s three squadrons consisted of Sikh, Jat and Rajput personnel. In the Armoured Corps, a squadron is equivalent to an infantry company, and an infantry unit is popularly called a Palton. His squadron comprised Sikh soldiers, and his petition stated that the unit had only a temple and a gurdwara, not a Sarv Dharm Sthal serving all faiths. “The petitioner, who is of Christian faith, claims that there is no church in the premises. He claims that even the written orders for weekly religious parades referred to them as ‘Mandir Gurdwara parade’, and even in common parlance the term ‘Sarv Dharm Sthal’ was not used.” He sought exemption from entering only the innermost sanctum of the temple or gurdwara, as a mark of respect to his monotheistic Christian belief.
The Army argued that since joining the regiment, Lt. Kamlesan had repeatedly failed to attend regimental parades despite multiple attempts by the commandant and other officers to explain the importance of regimentation. He insisted that his Christian faith did not allow him to enter the sanctum. In March 2021, he was issued termination orders.
The Army maintained that troops “derive motivation, pride, and generate their war cry from devotional practices to a deity, and when an officer distances himself from these practices, it adversely affects morale, undermining regimentation, cohesion and unity during combat. This is an essential professional responsibility and military duty of the petitioner, not a religious obligation.”
Tomorrow, on similar grounds, an officer may refuse to shout the regiment’s war cry—many of which are religious in nature—and refusing to say the war cry could affect the motivation of troops ready to die for the Palton’s honour. An officer commands respect and inspires his men in battle. This happens only when he understands the language, customs, traditions and ethos of the unit he is commissioned into. A Palton is the soldiers’ second home, and one can see the emotion among men when one of their own retires.
Some well-known infantry war cries include: Raja Ramchandra ki Jai, Bol Bajrang Bali ki Jai, Jawala Mata ki Jai, Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal, Badri Vishal Lal ki Jai, Kalika Mata ki Jai, and the famous Jai Mahakali, Ayo Gorkhali. The Garhwal Rifles Regimental Band plays devotional songs at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines, symbolizing the beginning and end of the Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand.
Many civilians may not know the ethos, traditions and customs of Army regiments and may simply speak of constitutional rights to practice one’s religion. But in the Army, every tradition, every ritual, every ceremony—and every prayer—is a parade. Every officer joins after POP-Passing out Parade and for Jawans its Kasam Parade, and every parade ends with the word of command: Parade line tod!
