Everything to do with the former Chief of Army
Staff General VK Singh has all along been taking on larger than life
dimensions. Sections of the media, have in the most cynical of manner,
relentlessly hounded the man, first, while still in Service and then in his
post retirement avatar.
The absurdity of the coup story, the leaking of the
letter to the PM, the deployment of non existent off-air interceptors, the
so-called Kashmir coup, the setting up of the TSD are all instances of
unscrupulous media reporting which has hacked away at the very core of the
Armed Forces. In all this, the only people who could have initiated an enquiry
to stop the nonsense (other than Rahul Gandhi) were the Government of India.
Unfortunately, the GOI instead chose to sink its head in the sand, giving rise
to a feeling that the Government was indeed hand in glove with the people
behind the various news stories.
If one was expecting acrimony, a blame game and
mudslinging on the age issue or the controversies fabricated by vested interests
to tarnish the image of the former Chief, it was not to be. The autobiography
on the contrary is an illustrative narrative of some of the crucial events and
the way they had been handled to give a few significant lessons for posterity.
For those who are strangers to the working and the ethos of the Armed Forces,
especially the Indian Army, it gives a realistic insight into the workings of
the system and the reason why the institution excels the way it does in most of
the challenging situations. The overall sense of the book clearly brings out
the reasons for the much talked about civil military discord.
The book is the story of a straight talking soldier
who right from the very start has stood firm in the belief that no matter what
the odds, stick to the truth and eventually you shall prevail. The book,
written with Kunal Verma, a filmmaker and the author of The Long Road to
Siachen and the Northeast Trilogy, is a fascinating read that is shorn of any
hyperbole or chest thumping. Verma, himself the son a Rajput Regiment officer,
combines superbly with the former Chief and has brought to us the General’s own
story in his own voice, and the narration makes for one of the most seamless
books that I have read in the recent past.
Most importantly, there is a sincerity and
simplicity in the narration that leaves you with little or no doubt that the
author is telling his side of the story at last, amazingly without any rancor
or bitterness. For those of us who have also followed the drum, every statement
in the book rings not just true, but it is also a merciless mirror that looks
at events minus any fabrication at a cover up. It is as VK saw it through the
various stages in his life, and it is in that, the real crux of the book lies –
it helps understand not just the man, but also what he stood for - His beliefs,
his convictions – something which shook the UPA government and the babudom to
its very core.
The very first page of the book, the prologue
titled ‘The Moment of Truth’ gives an account of the General’s meeting with Mr
P Chidambaram, the Union Home Minister. His ability to firmly suggest to the
minister against the deployment of the Army in the Naxal areas displays the
metal that the General is made of, his conviction and his ability to stand by
it in the larger interests of the country.
The perspective on Operation Meghdoot, the code
name given for the 1987 operations to occupy Siachen provides a bird’s eye view
into the planning process that goes into military operations. The significance
of the account lies in the fact, General VK Singh was then the GSO 2 MO3 of the
Military Operations Directorate, the apex planning body for military operations
of the Indian Army. The strategic importance of Siachen, the Chinese angle and
how the vacation of heights would have an effect on our future deployment and
thus escalate troop level in the area has been explained crystal clear. The
‘jugad’ ways of the Army to overcome practical on ground difficulties
corroborates why the Indian Army does not believe in the word ‘impossible’ in
the dictionary. The importance of secrecy and how Top Secret information is
handled at that level makes one realize the seriousness and the importance
attached to classified information. Compare this with the way the Army Chief’s
letter to the Prime Minister and Batia Committee report had been leaked to the
press!! The lack of practical experience of the bureaucracy in matters military
displayed during the procurement process of the ‘Over the Snow Vehicle’ (OSW)
for Siachen operations emphasizes the need for professional bureaucracy as had
been brought out time and again by various intellectuals, professionals and
study groups including the yet to be implemented Kargil Committee Report headed
by Late K Subrahmanyam, the doyen of India’s strategic affairs community.
The account of ‘Operation Blue Star’ the military
operation launched in June 1984 to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his
fellow militants from the Golden Temple complex brings out how some of
the basic tenets of handling and employing military had been violated. Having
viewed the operation as an insider in the capacity of a Q Staff Officer at the
Jalandhar based Corps Headquarters I believe the General has downplayed some of
the repercussions and chaos that the violation of some of the basic principles
created down the line. The use of Army as an offensive weapon against our own
people, the Prime Minister of the country going over the head of the Army Chief
and ordering the operation based on the advice of Lt Gen K Sundarji, a
subordinate officer, the pitfalls of basing military decisions on political
rather than operational logic, the need for the military chief to exhibit moral
courage to provide unbiased military advice and stick to one’s convictions, the
importance of deliberating through the operation to decide on a course of
action rather than basing plans on hunches, the pitfalls of breaking
formations, ignoring jurisdiction and local on ground knowledge of military
formations, employing adhoc combinations of units and formations to undertake
operations have been explained at great length. The timing of the operation
ignoring the moon phase and on the anniversary day of Guru Arjan’s martyrdom is
intriguing raising questions on the rationale for the urgency ignoring loss of
human lives both military and civil as well as Sikh sentiments.
The description of Operation Brasstacks and
Operation Trident is a classic example of how a war can be engineered by
misinterpreting pieces of intelligence inputs without proper in depth analysis.
For the majority of our countrymen who are not very aware of the Defence
Services and their functioning this part of the book also gives a glimpse of
the logic behind the moves of offensive and defensive formations of countries
on either side of the border and their implications.
The Indian Prime Minister signed the Indo – Sri
Lanka accord 1987 with the Sri Lankan President to end the war between LTTE and
the Sri Lankan Army thereby absolving Prabhakaran, the LTTE Chief of any
accountability in the entire game. The Indian Army which went
to protect the Tamils ended up fighting the LTTE. These foreign policy blunders
have come out very clearly in the book. The imprudence of rushing the
Indian Army to Sri Lanka without a clear cut role, failure to translate the
envisaged role into specific military tasks, rushing into the island nation
without a full assessment including thinking through the entire operation with
all its military implications have come out explicitly in the book. The way
Army units were rushed around aimlessly and the fortitude of the Indian
military to withstand such mess – ups and yet give its best has a story of its
own to tell the readers.
The mobilization for ‘Operation Parakram’ brought
to light the effect of critical shortages in equipment considered vital for war
fighting. It was a missed opportunity. The book also highlights the case of
mine fuses not fitting the mines resulting in mine accidents - a clear case of
lack of quality control and accountability. The lack of interest shown in the
procurement of mine – shoes from a Jalandhar based shoe manufacturer, the
official supplier of mine – shoes to the US Army also has its own untold
logic!!
Typical of the Army, the then Brigadier VK Singh
commanding the Samba Brigade being told to conduct his daughter’s engagement
ceremony after attending an ‘important conference and discussion’ and the way
he as the GOC of the Victor Force handling counter insurgency operations in the
valley had to offload his baggage after checking in at the airport for
proceeding on leave have a message to convey. The Indian Army takes it
profession much too seriously for Indian standards!!
A glimpse of the bureaucracy’s inefficient and slow
motion acts has been reflected in the way the sanction for the officer to
attend the Rangers Course in US was delayed till about a few hours before the
departure of the flight. Foreign courses in as far as the Indian Army is
concerned are not foreign jaunts. These are professional courses
where individual officers will have to compete with other nationals
and come up to their standards. This requires preparations. Obviously to the
babus the delay doesn’t seem to matter. He further goes on to say that things
had not changed when he went to attend a course at the US Army’s War College
years later. I am told even today the situation is no different.
The delinking of the military authorities from the
chain of reporting of Principal Director of Defence Estates (PDDE), the
authority controlling military lands, the 300 pending complaints with the PDDE
for 20 years, and the way the bungalows in Ambala Cantonment have been acquired
by powerful politicians or local businessmen provides a pointer to the corrupt
land mafia eating away military assets.
One major flaw in the book - General VK Singh’s
heart seems to have overtaken him when he describes AK Antony the Defence
Minister as a ‘good human being’ and a ‘highly accomplished person’. As the
Defence Minister, could he not figure out that the age issue, the story of the Chief
creating the Technical Support Division (TSD) on his own without the approval
of the Government and employing it for snooping on the political leaders, the
fiction of the General VK Singh leaking his own Top Secret letter, the tale of
the military coup etc. have been fabricated by vested interests to tarnish the
image of the Chief for definite purpose?
Did he not have the authority or the power to
investigate the age issue and the other innuendoes and settle the issue and
come out in the open to clarify matters? Why was he silent when the whole lot
of Parliamentarians wanted the Chief to resign? Is this the way an honest
minister is expected to function? What happened to his loyalty to his Chief,
his subordinate? Would he as the Defence Minister of the country stand by his
Chief when things go wrong? - Definitely not the leadership material
which can cope with the needs of the Defence Services.
In any case what has he done to the give a
direction to the Army? Has he done something about the much talked about
‘National Defence Strategy’ or the ‘Rules of Engagement’? What has he done to
reign in the bureaucracy who went berserk blocking every issue pertaining to
Military Veterans even after the highest court of the land had ruled in their
favour without any regard to their age or the time and finances involved in
going through litigation? Under his leadership have we not repeatedly hit the
snake in the snake and ladder game that he played with procurement of military
hardware? Why is the bureaucracy doing the procurement of weapons despite
repeated corruption charges and delays? Does he not realize that a properly
constituted professional body besides being transparent will be able handle
procurement much better? Are these the signs of an honest minister? Why has he
allowed the bureaucracy to sit on the promotion board proceedings of officers
at their will, a strategy employed to alter the fate and promotion prospects of
individual officers? Could he not lay down a specific time limit? The country
does not need a good human being as its Defence Minister but someone who is
truthful, loyal to the organisation and the troops besides produce results that
is expected of a Defence Minister.
The book covers a variety of other very interesting
issues which every Indian ought to understand. Issues such as the
Transformation Study conducted by him, the functioning of the Defence Research
and Development Organisation (DRDO), the purchase of TATRA trucks from BMEL,
the fate of procurement list when a Joint Secretary (Acquisitions) is posted
out without relief, the question of officer shortage and the way the Defence
Secretary reacted to the Army’s proposal for handling the shortage etc. are
significant amongst them.
Overall a wonderful book which every citizen who wishes
to know something about the military needs to go through.
A note :
The link for article titled ‘A Lesson for
Posterity’ by Brigadier V Mahalingam (Retired) and published in Times
of India Blog is given below.
The article is essentially a review of the book
titled ‘Courage and Conviction authored by General VK
Singh, the former Chief of the Army Staff and Kunal Verma. The author of the above article has
tried to highlight the important parts of the article which holds a number of
lessons for posterity.
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