There is nothing inherently controversial about appointing a military veteran to administer a major public institution. Quite the contrary. Veterans are among the country's most under-utilised repositories of institutional capability. Decades of service teach them something increasingly rare in public life, i.e., discipline without drama, accountability without evasion, hierarchy without personal aggrandisement, and the ability to take decisions under pressure.
A distinguished military officer carries with them more than a résumé. He/she carries institutionalised experience, administrative rigour, constitutional bearing and, ideally, a deeply ingrained sense of service to the nation. When such experience is deployed in civilian institutions where it is genuinely needed, society benefits.
That is why the appointment of Air Marshal (retd) Jeetendra Mishra as the first full-time CEO of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust should not be criticised merely because he is a veteran. The veteran is not the problem. Indeed, his professional experience may prove precisely what an institution undergoing administrative scrutiny requires.
But precisely because the appointment is consequential, it deserves scrutiny of a different kind. The question is not whether a decorated Air Marshal is competent. The question is what symbolic and political work his presence may inadvertently perform. The uniform is larger than the person.