I
am stunned that the Congress has the guts to challenge the BJP on its choice of
Army chief. The Congress has messed with the system since time immemorial.
Nehru was the first. He did not even want an Army.
Lt Gen Bipin Rawat : India’s
next Army chief. (File photo)
He
let down the chief of Army Staff, General Thimayya and made him feel so
redundant that he resigned. And he propped up a total incompetent staff officer
Lt. General Kaul as the Chief of General Staff under General Thapar the Army
chief. Both were totally at sea when the Chinese attacked India and thanks to
them we lost the war in 1962 and several thousand soldiers got slaughtered.
Again
in 1974, Lt. General Bhagat PVSM, VC, who was the seniormost in line to succeed
as the chief of the Army, and had proved himself both as a soldier at war and
strategy was done down by PM Indira Gandhi. By almost any yardstick the
position should have been his. He had the seniority, the leadership quality and
the aptitude. Even General Manekshaw wrote, “I had considered him my natural
successor as the Army Chief, but then the government must have felt
uncomfortable to have two successive strong Army Chiefs. SO THE ARMY MISSED A
FISRT RATE CHIEF, (his capitals). This was unprecedented because there was no
other contender thus General Bewoor, who was the Army Chief was simply given an
extension so that General Bhagat would have to retire.
General
SK Sinha, who later was done down by the Congress party as the senior most to
be chief, was also a highly competent officer, had this to say about Bhagat:
“We
found it difficult to believe that such an unfair decision could be taken by
the government. Of course, the mandarins were not happy at the prospect of
having a strong chief or comfortable with having a very popular general as the chief.”
In
1983, again under Indira Gandhi, Lt Gen S K Sinha was overlooked for the post
of Army chief in favour of Gen A S Vaidya, although he was a highly decorated
and competent officer.
The
Congress is under the impression that not only the Army chief but every
appointment even for institutional civilian positions is suspect. The party is
quick to criticize even though their own history regarding such appointments is
jam packed with such appointments.
The
Congress should be reminded that in the 60 plus years of their existence as
head of a government every single institution in India had their most favored
person who would kowtow to them. In fact, if you look at any institution in
India today, it is either named after the dynasty or run by their acolytes
going back to PM Nehru. He did not think twice of sending his sister, Vijaya
Lakshmi Pandit to London as India’s most important diplomatic, after serving as
Nehru’s envoy to the Soviet Union, the USA and the United Nations! There were
many great Congressmen in India who had fought for independence that could have
occupied these posts.
But
then nepotism began with the Congress so did dynasty thus their arguments about
current appointments ring false and their useless wiles can be easily overcome.
Perhaps one should just ignore their constant complaints as useless chatter.
After all this was the party that went berserk about yoga going international!
By the kind courtesy of
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/no-free-lunch/congress-cries-foul-on-next-army-chief-but-they-did-it-all-the-time/
Freelance journalist Ashali Varma has authored the biography of her father late Lt Gen PS Bhagat — ‘The Victoria Cross: A Love Story’. She was executive producer with the International Commentary Service Inc, New York in 1990. She was the executive publisher of The Earth Times, New York (1992- 98). She has also worked as the editor of Choices Magazine, United Nations Development Programme. She writes on various issues including human rights, population and sustainable development.
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