General Thimayya's resignation : How the politicians made a fool of a brave Indian soldier and lost the war to China in 1962.
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by Brig Hemant Mahajan
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Menon told Thimayya that he had no business to meet the prime minister without his specific approval. Thimayya reiterated that the prime minister desired to know about the preparedness, and the state of morale of the services, and he told him nothing that he had, over the period of 18 months or so, not discussed with the minister.
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But Menon was furious and finally said: "No, General. It’s downright disloyalty and impropriety." To this, Thimayya said: "I make no allegations. You can call the other chiefs too. They will say the same that they and I have continuously said — that the services are being neglected and that their morale is lowering. These are the facts that we have told you earlier and the prime minister now. I am reiterating that by speaking candidly I and other chiefs are being loyal to you, the government and country. That’s what loyalty means to me."
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Thimayya saw no point in carrying on the conversation further with Menon. Deeply hurt at his remarks, he got up and said: "I have never been disloyal to anyone, least of all to you, my country and the government." (Menon shouted at top of his voice). "You are disloyal to me and I have no place for disloyal generals around." It was no longer possible to conceal the tension between Menon and the service chiefs. He left.
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It was 9.30 p.m. when Thimayya reached home and told (his wife) Nina to be ready to pack up and then murmured, "It’s time to pack up honourably." He also talked to Mukerjee and Katari and told them he was seriously contemplating putting in his papers the next day or so. Both repeated their vow to ‘follow the leader’.
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"Sink or crash, we’ll do it together," was the commitment.
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"Unitedly, we will all," became the motto.
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After Thimayya left, Menon met Nehru, who asked him not to rock the boat. He assured him that he would once again get the chiefs’ willing cooperation, provided he showed patience.
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Thimayya drafted his resignation letter the following morning and showed it to Mukerjee and Katari, both of whom confirmed their willingness to follow suit. "My conscience says, wait," Nina was saying.
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Thimayya called Major General S.P.P. Thorat, who advised the same. So was the suggestion of Bogey Sen, his CGS and Wadalia, his deputy chief. General Cariappa who was in Delhi asked him to meet the prime minister again before he ‘bunged in’ his ‘letter’.
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That night, Thimayya thought and re-thought about throwing away a career, the great honour the country had bestowed upon him and the trust his officers and men had reposed in him. It was one of the saddest nights of his life.
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Putting his arm around Thimayya’s shoulders, Nehru asked him why he hadn’t met him, rather than sending in his resignation. "Please withdraw it straight away," ordered a visibly annoyed prime minister. "I will see you again at 7 p.m. with a letter withdrawing your resignation. In the meanwhile, I am keeping the letter with me." He then asked him to return at 7 p.m."
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In the meanwhile, Katari had informed Mukerjee, by now in London, that Thimayya had submitted his resignation and he was following suit. He expected Mukerjee to do so, although he made no such specific suggestion. He was expected to naturally follow them. The period between 2.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. was used by Nehru to control the damage which the resignation of the chiefs would cause to the government, the services’ morale, and the gains the enemy would make.
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Nehru rang up Katari and told him that he had called Thimayya and he was withdrawing his resignation and he should not entertain any such proposal. (A similar message went to Mukerjee through the High Commission.) He told him that Thimayya would meet him again in the evening and he should meet him at 9.30 p.m.
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So by the time Thimayya arrived at the Teen Murti residence of the prime minister at 7 pm through a carefully articulated manoeuvre, Nehru had distanced the other chiefs from Thimayya by "talking them out of it." Menon too was asked to keep a draft of his resignation handy. An emergency meeting of the Cabinet Committee of the Parliament was also called.
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And then he (Nehru) began to win over Timmy with his charm but Thimayya said that he had not changed his mind and instead urged the prime minister to accept his resignation. In his defence, he argued: "That’s the only honourable course left to me and the other chiefs. When professional advice and recommendations are flouted at the drop of a hat, the chief loses his place and importance." Nehru, however, said: "We have sufficient problems. And at this moment of crisis, one should not do anything to encourage opponents or the enemy. Shouldn’t it be so, Timmy?
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Thimayya further explained that it was indeed a "moment of crisis" and it was his loyalty to him and his sense of patriotism to the country that had really moved him to sacrifice his job. But he repeated that Menon as defence minister had "made it impossible" for him and the other chiefs to work as head of the services, and unless Menon was moved out of defence, there could be little progress. But he understood that as this obviously could not be agreed to by the prime minister, he — and the other chiefs — should step aside, and, therefore, his submission of his resignation. Nehru admitted that Menon was a "difficult man", but he was simply "brilliant" and was doing service to defence which no one earlier had done. Thimayya agreed, but suggested that his methods of "man-management" were "outrageous" and even his brilliance was that of an "Oxford professor of philosophy" rather than of a man dealing with the country’s defence forces which have to be prepared to fight enemies.
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And, finally, he truthfully said to his prime minister: "With the present state of the army, I can hardly assure success. We are not prepared. All my efforts — as also of others — have failed for the past 24 to 30 months to make the armed forces a viable defence force. So let someone else do the job... I request my resignation be kindly accepted."
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Nehru heard him out and said he agreed. Then he pleaded with Thimayya: "Timmy, I ask you to withdraw this resignation. I, as your elder and not necessarily your prime minister, am requesting you to do so. I promise to restore dignity to you and the other service chiefs’ offices. We have to fight an enemy. For my sake, withdraw it."
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At 9.30 pm Katari had met Nehru who told him that they were "ganging up" against Menon and that "Thimayya had withdrawn his resignation" — both factually wrong. Katari, then decided to call off handing in his letter of resignation without even checking with Thimayya." Whether it was the charm of the prime minister or fear of retribution or the weakness of Katari — and Mukerjee — one will never know. But enormous damage was done to the chiefs’ solidarity.
At 9.30 pm Katari had met Nehru who told him that they were "ganging up" against Menon and that "Thimayya had withdrawn his resignation" — both factually wrong. Katari, then decided to call off handing in his letter of resignation without even checking with Thimayya." Whether it was the charm of the prime minister or fear of retribution or the weakness of Katari — and Mukerjee — one will never know. But enormous damage was done to the chiefs’ solidarity.
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On the morning of September 1, the Capital awoke alarmed in the wake of the disturbing disclosures in the Press about Thimayya’s resignation (which he had, by then, withdrawn).
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There was also considerable applause when the prime minister assured the House — and through it, the country — that "under our practice, the civil authority is, and must remain supreme" (while it should, however, pay due heed to expert advice). There was also applause when he referred to the army’s "fine mettle" and "excellent morale."
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It was (daughter) Mireille who wept bitterly at the public condemnation of her father in the Parliament (where she sat alongside Indira Gandhi) by Pandit Nehru. When she recalled the scene to her father, tears welled up again. She understood nothing of politics, but surely had human sentiments, and spoke of these things to her father on the telephone at Secunderabad where he had gone for the forthcoming inauguration of the Joint Land Air Warfare School.
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"Daddy you have been let down. Mummy was right in asking you not to withdraw your letter."
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Thimayya said nothing. Later, on his return to Delhi, he showed her the office copy of his letter of resignation that contained the gist of what had transpired between him and Nehru, besides the appeals from the prime minister to withdraw his letter.
"You’ll now defend your father, I hope," he said.
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"Always passionately, daddy," replied Mireille.
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These are trivial, then I know of none other important issues," he told Nina, who was furious at the withdrawal, and asked him to "re-resign" without a second thought, and expose the duo.
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He said he had accepted the advice and the assurances of his prime minister and had withdrawn his resignation. "For, in a democracy, a resignation is the only constitutional safeguard to a service chief against incompetent, unscrupulous or ambitious politicians," he murmured
Sent by
Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak
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