By Mahshid Boroomand, Rooz Online
Basij Has Been Aggressive in Politics
Khamenei (left) with Basij chief Naghdi
(center) and IRGC head Ali Jafari
As much criticism for the involvement of the
Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and the Basij para-military forces in political
affairs has been going around in Iran in recent years and critics call such
interference to be contrary to the constitution and contradicting the guidance
of the founder of the Islamic Republic ayatollah Khomeini, the country's current
leader ayatollah Khamenei through recent remarks approved the interference of
the military in politics by calling the Basij a "political" entity.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the week that commemorates the Basij force, which
operates under the IRGC, ayatollah Khamenei said, "Basij is a people's movement
that includes people from all sectors of society, the heart of the nation and it
is created for the nation. It is present in all activities of defense, science,
the arts, construction, politics, culture, assistance to the deprived,
production, technology, sports, international accomplishments, and in any good
work." He made these remarks to senior military commanders and Basij leaders
present at a commemoration gathering.
Ayatollah Khamenei listed the qualities of the Basij in these words. "The Basij
is political but not politicized or partisan; it is crusading but not without
discipline or extremism; it is deeply religious and committed but not dogmatic
and rigid; it is insightful but not arrogant; it supports attracting the
majority but is brave and does not compromise on principles; it supports science
but is not mesmerized by it; it has Islamic ethics but this is not a front; it
is active in developing the world but it is not material."
This approval of Basij's involvement in politics and political issues by
ayatollah Khamenei comes at a time when two military institutions in the
country, namely the IRGC and the Basij both of which operate directly under his
direction, have been accused of not only taking sides in political issues but
also supporting specific groups operating under the rubric of Principlists in
the recent presidential and parliamentary elections.
Khamenei with his top commanders
In a 2005 letter to ayatollah Khamenei, Green
Movement leader Mehdi Karoubi complained about the interference of Khamenei's
son, the IRGC and the Basij and warned about straying from the course of the
revolution. Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the current head of the powerful State
Expediency Council, who was also a presidential candidate in 2009, also has
aired similar criticism against the undue interference of military institutions
such as the IRGC and the Basij in elections. He had also asked state officials
to investigate the complaint made by Karoubi.
In the course of the controversial 2009 presidential elections, a prominent
pro-reform candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi who is also another Green Movement
leader along with Karoubi, both of whom have been under house arrest for 10
months now, wrote two letters to ayatollah Khamenei complaining about the
interference of members of the IRGC and the Basij in the electoral process.
Other senior leaders of the Islamic revolution too have made similar complaints
about the overstepping of the IRGC and the Basij and have referenced ayatollah
Khomeini's guidance against the military's participation in politics. The
founder of the Islamic regime had on a number of occasions, including his
political will, expressly stressed that the armed forces should stay away from
parties, groups, factions etc and that they should not get involved with them
and what he called "political games."
The constitution of the Islamic Republic also expressly bans the armed forces
from getting involved in political issues and has even outlined criminal
penalties for the armed forces for such transgressions. It even specifically
names the IRGC and the Basij.
It should be noted that in recent months differences among the Principlists,
some of whom support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been growing and are now regular
fodder for the domestic media. Today, a group of IRGC and Basij commanders
appointed by ayatollah Khamenei have broken ranks with some Principlists and
reject Ahmadinejad and his allies completely and label them to be outside the
revolutionary circle.
The head of the armed forces command recently even said that the "deviant
current - a label attributed to Ahmadinejad and his allies implying that they
have deviated from the true revolutionary course - is an ally of the Americans
as are the seditionists - a label the regime uses for the reform movement lead
by the Green Movement - and that people must exercise vigilance towards them and
the events around the country.
In a recent remark the commander of the Basij force Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, the
Basij also said, "The Basij shall play a guiding role in the upcoming elections
so that people can make the better choices." In another speech in September he
said that the upcoming Majlis elections were a challenge for the regime and that
the Basij would play a "supportive role in the ballot boxes."