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Chandigarh: Armed forces veterans were once again troubled by the conduct of the Army chief, general Upendra Dwivedi, who recently visited the Jagannath temple in Puri in a blaze of publicity “on behalf of the Indian Army” to seek blessings for its personnel and their families.

In an institution long accustomed to a secular, professional, and apolitical military, such recurring public conflation of religious ritual with institutional well-being by its senior-most officer struck a jarring note among veterans, serving officers, and observers concerned with the Army’s secular ethos. 

What might have been a private act of personal devotion was instead elevated into a symbolic performance – complete with ceremonial reception, media coverage, and the implicit suggestion that operational success and morale were somehow linked to divine favour and indulgence.

“I feel very fortunate to have received the blessings of Lord Jagannath,” general Dwivedi said after visiting the temple over the weekend, accompanied by his wife, Sunita Dwivedi, according to multiple media reports and widely shared video clips. “My main objective,” he stated, “was to seek blessings on behalf of the Indian Army and for the well-being of its personnel and their families. I am confident that the Indian Army will perform even better in the coming days with the Lord’s blessing.”

General Dwivedi later left Puri on a special military aircraft to review the training infrastructure at the Army Air Defence College in nearby Gopalpur, where he also witnessed a live firing demonstration at the local field range. The juxtaposition of these operational responsibilities with his temple visit illustrates how, in today’s Indian Army, ceremonial religiosity and professional military duties are increasingly performed in close succession, blurring the line between personal faith and institutional activity.

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Such sequencing – moving seamlessly from high-profile devotional engagements to critical training and operational oversight – symbolically and publicly intertwine spiritual observance with military authority. It also, somehow, sends a subtle message across the force that religious presence is now a visible component of leadership within the armed forces, especially the Army.

This, however, was not general Dwivedi’s first such high-profile visit since taking over as chief of army staff in June 2024. In December 2024, he accompanied defence minister Rajnath Singh to the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, one of the country’s 12 Jyotirlinga shrines, where both offered prayers and performed rituals seeking blessings.

The visit –........

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