Indian Army: News and Discussions 15 Apr 2012

[Gaur]

Jaybhatt,
I feel that you are overreacting here. I personally found no problems with the interviews.

[ASPuar]

I didnt see anything wrong with it.

In fact, it was Gen Sundarji who told his entire officer corps to address each other by rank, and not "sir"'s.

Incidentally, both Arnab Goswami and Anubha Bhosle are children of army officers.

[Jaybhatt]

Jaybhatt,
I feel that you are overreacting here. I personally found no problems with the interviews.

Gaur : I did not comment on the interviews, per se. Of course, there were no "problems" with the interviews. The General was scintillating and forthright, as usual.

What I found most objectionable was the supercilious attitude of the two persons, when addressing a much more senior person. And a person who possesses the most sterling attributes that one could think of.

If you and Nikhil feel that the two TV persons were kosher, you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. The overwhelming majority of the people I have spoken to clearly shared my assessment.

ASPuar : Don't agree with you. Despite General Sundarji's reported suggestion (it couldn't have been more than that), the armed forces do follow a strict protocol. Can you visualise a Captain calling a Div. Commander by his rank, instead of "Sir" ?

In the case of junior civilians like Goswami and Bhosle, their behaviour was even more egregious. As children of armed forces personnel, they should surely have known better.

[Sanku]

I found Arnab very restrained and respectful. Also as an anchor, he can be "feting" Gen VKS on a hard talk program. He is required to be firm but polite, which he was.

Gen VKS, way of addressing him as "Arnab" (note tone and smile) -- clearly reflects a liking for Arnab in mind of Gen VKS.

As a aside, Arnab has been one of the staunchest supporters of Gen VKS during the entire time.

[Gaur]

Gaur : I did not comment on the interviews, per se. Of course, there were no "problems" with the interviews. The General was scintillating and forthright, as usual.

What I found most objectionable was the supercilious attitude of the two persons, when addressing a much more senior person. And a person who possesses the most sterling attributes that one could think of.

I also meant the attitude of the two anchors. As Sanku said, an interviewer is required to be firm but polite. In fact, it will be disadvantageous for Gen VK Singh if his interviewers are "too" polite, respectful and demure. Then, it would look as if the anchors are tilted to his side and thus his statements will not carry the same impact. On the other hand, if the anchors are firm and ask seemingly hard and difficult questions, the interviewee (if he answers satisfactorily) would come out looking like he is above anything you can throw at him. He will gain much more respect of the viewers.

If you and Nikhil feel that the two TV persons were kosher, you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. The overwhelming majority of the people I have spoken to clearly shared my assessment.

Fair enough. There is no fixed answer to this as it is after all a matter of personal opinion. So, we can politely agree to disagree.

[Jaybhatt]

Gaur : I did not comment on the interviews, per se. Of course, there were no "problems" with the interviews. The General was scintillating and forthright, as usual.

What I found most objectionable was the supercilious attitude of the two persons, when addressing a much more senior person. And a person who possesses the most sterling attributes that one could think of.

I also meant the attitude of the two anchors. As Sanku said, an interviewer is required to be firm but polite. In fact, it will be disadvantageous for Gen VK Singh if his interviewers are "too" polite, respectful and demure. Then, it would look as if the anchors are tilted to his side and thus his statements will not carry the same impact. On the other hand, if the anchors are firm and ask seemingly hard and difficult questions, the interviewee (if he answers satisfactorily) would come out looking like he is above anything you can throw at him. He will gain much more respect of the viewers.

If you and Nikhil feel that the two TV persons were kosher, you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. The overwhelming majority of the people I have spoken to clearly shared my assessment.

Fair enough. There is no fixed answer to this as it is after all a matter of personal opinion. So, we can politely agree to disagree.

Hear hear ! Of course.

I trust we are on the same side as far the principal issue is concerned. That, a few days before hanging up his uniform, an outstanding soldier and an exemplary citizen of the Republic was saying his adieu, to the people and the country he served and defended so faithfully and capably. And what an incredibly inspiring farewell message !

[Gaur]

^^
Of course, my respect and admiration for Gen VK Singh cannot go any higher. An absolute inspiration.

[nelson]

Army Chief ratifies order to dismiss Lt.Gen Avadesh Prakash

Now can we not but expect some spin on this too, probably about the timing.

[AdityaM]

but why did the chief wait till the very end to tie the loose ends

[Rahul M]

but why did the chief wait till the very end to tie the loose ends

did he ? would you have liked him to throw procedure to the winds and nail whom he felt like ?
there are well laid down procedures and he has to follow those, and that takes as long as it does.

[Sree]

...

ASPuar : Don't agree with you. Despite General Sundarji's reported suggestion (it couldn't have been more than that), the armed forces do follow a strict protocol. Can you visualise a Captain calling a Div. Commander by his rank, instead of "Sir" ?

...

The Navy had a long-standing tradition (don't know if it's still followed) of juniors addressing seniors by their rank - "Captain", "Admiral". There were some Navy Day programs back in the early '80s in which serving officers role-played operational situations for the camera, and fairly junior officers, in the Ops Room of a fleet flagship at sea, were addressing the Fleet Commander and the C-in-C as "Admiral" - as in, "Admiral, request permission to launch countermeasures," and words to that effect.

Addressing senior officers by rank instead of "Sir" is not totally without precedent.

Rgds

[ramana]

So its a non-issue.
Enough, Lets Move On (ELMO)

[Nikhil T]

Hear hear ! Of course.

I trust we are on the same side as far the principal issue is concerned. That, a few days before hanging up his uniform, an outstanding soldier and an exemplary citizen of the Republic was saying his adieu, to the people and the country he served and defended so faithfully and capably. And what an incredibly inspiring farewell message !

Yes, we are. I admire the Gen VKS for all that he has done and especially his fortitude in his last few interviews, but I really feel he erred in releasing this controversial book written by R K Anand, a convicted manipulator of the law. There are two reasons:

1) The book itself talks about nepotism in Army, favors by politicians, bureaucrats to officers etc. To VKS's credit he did distance himself from the contents “Releasing a book does not mean anything in the world.", but propriety would demand that he should've waited until his retirement to release a book that talks about the malaise affecting his currently-held office. I could've understood if the book was actually a scholarly discourse, written by a well-known expert, but from reading the book's cover it seems very similar to a Ram Jethmalani outburst.

2) Secondly, sharing the stage with shady characters like Sajjan Kumar and RK Anand is to put it mildly, a very bad idea. Gen VKS has the country's respect for uprightness. Compounding the fact was Gen VKS's comments about RK Anand at the function "He is a respected man. I have released his book and I am happy about it.” How is RK Anand respected if his own professional fraternity disowned him ? By this logic, tomorrow we would call (former) Gen Avadesh Prakash 'respected'.

[Cosmo_R]

but why did the chief wait till the very end to tie the loose ends

I am not being facetious here. You usually 'tie up loose ends' at the end. At the beginning or middle, you don't see 'loose ends'.

[AdityaM]

but why did the chief wait till the very end to tie the loose ends

did he ? would you have liked him to throw procedure to the winds and nail whom he felt like ?
there are well laid down procedures and he has to follow those, and that takes as long as it does.

Strange that it took till the last 2-3 months for all the procedures to be set in place, and thus opening him to charges of being vindictive by the manipulative media & others.
Hope we have more men with guts like the General.

[nelson]

Maj Gen retd Mrinal Suman eloquently establishes the precariousness of the incoming Army Chief's position.

http://mrinalsuman.blogspot.in/

Of Matters Military: New Chief and the Challenges

Major General Mrinal Suman


Human memory may be short but institutional memory is eternal and highly sensitive to all issues that affect its health and standing. Therefore, institutional history is most unforgiving and never condones any act of transgression that brings disrepute to its character. Indian army as an institution is proud of its non-partisan disposition and well-evolved merit-based promotion system.

Devious tweaking of the system by a parochial Chief to ensure elevation of his protégé will always be remembered as a black episode in the history of the Indian army. In a hierarchy based organisation like the army, such transgressions have a complex cascading effect – the complete line of succession for higher ranks has been distorted. Many deserving officers have got left out.

End of May 2012 will see a change of guard at the apex of the Indian army. Assumption of the appointment by the Chief-designate will mark the triumph of parochialism over justice. Therefore, he will have to carry the burden of an acute guilt-complex. He knows that the environment is aware of the manipulations that facilitated his rise – the current incumbent has been deceitfully deprived of his full tenure and the careers of many brilliant officers who could have posed a challenge to his advancement were ruthlessly ruined.

To be trusted is the greatest compliment that a leader can earn. It flourishes on the credibility that a leader enjoys in his command. On the other hand, partisanship is an impropriety of the worst kind and erodes credibility of leaders and undermines their standing in the eyes of the led. Being a beneficiary of partisan dispensation, the new Chief will have to work hard to prove his impartial credentials. One wonders as to how he would muster moral courage to exhort troops to trust the organisation and have faith in the justness of the system. For a military leader, it is the most unenviable situation to be in.

Additionally, the new incumbent will be hard pressed to put up with many disconcerting situations. How will he face the outgoing Chief to accept the baton? Similarly, having usurped the appointment that should have rightfully gone to the Northern Army Commander, it will be tough for him to interact with him.

The present Chief will be going out on a moral high. Despite a massive slander campaign launched by the purchased media and some inimical elements, his reputation as an incorruptible leader and a professionally upright commander remains intact. Having faced the wrath of a corrupt, manipulated and prejudiced environment, he will be long remembered for his attempts at cleansing the system. The new Chief will have to contend with his predecessor’s unblemished reputation and live up to it.

Two serious cases are pending finalisation. A writ petition is pending in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking an enquiry into his alleged involvement in a fake encounter that resulted in the death of an innocent person. He is also being accused of command failure during his tenure with the UN peacekeeping force in Congo and a court of enquiry is in progress. Conviction under either of the cases will make his position untenable.

Finally, one wonders if it has ever crossed the mind of the Chief-designate that it would have been far more honorable to retire as an upright Army Commander than to become the Chief through questionable means. History will never forget the conspiracy and the subterfuge that facilitated his elevation – turning the national motto ‘Satyamev Jayate’ on its head. It should never be forgotten that when history judges key players in retrospect, it is always unsparing and ruthless in exposing their misdemeanors.

[nelson]

...
did he ? would you have liked him to throw procedure to the winds and nail whom he felt like ?
there are well laid down procedures and he has to follow those, and that takes as long as it does.

Strange that it took till the last 2-3 months for all the procedures to be set in place, and thus opening him to charges of being vindictive by the manipulative media & others.
Hope we have more men with guts like the General.

Yes, it takes that much time for confirmation of sentence and its promulgation.

[Karan M]

I found Arnab's interview of VK Singh fairly aggressive and a bit hostile at times. In contrast Mr Gokhale's interview came across as more nuanced and respectful. Perhap's thats just the way Arnab is and it might actually add to VKS's credibility that he fielded tough and some what terse questions without losing his cool or throwing his weight around.

[Rahul M]

arnab was playing the devil's advocate, he fielded questions that his critics would have asked and gave him an opportunity to clear the air.

the cnn ibn lady OTOH was quite disrespectful in body language, almost mocking the general.

[Sanku]

arnab was playing the devil's advocate, he fielded questions that his critics would have asked and gave him an opportunity to clear the air.

the cnn ibn lady OTOH was quite disrespectful in body language, almost mocking the general.

I agree, and you could see Gen VKS response as quite different in the two cases. In the case of interview with Arnab, Gen VKS did take some pain to fully flesh out his answers on most topics.

In contrast, he clearly brushed aside many questions in the case of cnn ibn lady.

[Manish_Sharma]

Best part was when he said to Anubha "You are from army family, let me educate you...."

[Jaybhatt]

Hear hear ! Of course.

I trust we are on the same side as far the principal issue is concerned. That, a few days before hanging up his uniform, an outstanding soldier and an exemplary citizen of the Republic was saying his adieu, to the people and the country he served and defended so faithfully and capably. And what an incredibly inspiring farewell message !

Yes, we are. I admire the Gen VKS for all that he has done and especially his fortitude in his last few interviews, but I really feel he erred in releasing this controversial book written by R K Anand, a convicted manipulator of the law. There are two reasons:

1) The book itself talks about nepotism in Army, favors by politicians, bureaucrats to officers etc. To VKS's credit he did distance himself from the contents “Releasing a book does not mean anything in the world.", but propriety would demand that he should've waited until his retirement to release a book that talks about the malaise affecting his currently-held office. I could've understood if the book was actually a scholarly discourse, written by a well-known expert, but from reading the book's cover it seems very similar to a Ram Jethmalani outburst.

2) Secondly, sharing the stage with shady characters like Sajjan Kumar and RK Anand is to put it mildly, a very bad idea. Gen VKS has the country's respect for uprightness. Compounding the fact was Gen VKS's comments about RK Anand at the function "He is a respected man. I have released his book and I am happy about it.” How is RK Anand respected if his own professional fraternity disowned him ? By this logic, tomorrow we would call (former) Gen Avadesh Prakash 'respected'.

Yes, Nikhil. I agree with you on this issue. The good General should not have shared the same platform with the likes of Anand et al. This is the only action of Gen. VKS that I don't concur with. His Staff officers should have done some research on the bona fides of the organisers (or lack of them). Big blunder by the soldiers' soldier, if one looks at just this incident. But a small blip in the man's overall record.

[Jaybhatt]

So its a non-issue.
Enough, Lets Move On (ELMO)

Well said - I agree with you.

One major caveat, though : the ELMO rule should have been applied many moons ago for persons like Chacko, who managed the almost-impossible feat of derailing meaningful discussions on this thread for months.

[Jaybhatt]

arnab was playing the devil's advocate, he fielded questions that his critics would have asked and gave him an opportunity to clear the air.

the cnn ibn lady OTOH was quite disrespectful in body language, almost mocking the general.

Rahul M : thank you for bringing up this aspect and reinforcing what I had written earlier. I couldn't agree more with you.

[Jaybhatt]

Maj Gen retd Mrinal Suman eloquently establishes the precariousness of the incoming Army Chief's position.

http://mrinalsuman.blogspot.in/

Of Matters Military: New Chief and the Challenges
Major General Mrinal Suman

Human memory may be short but institutional memory is eternal and highly sensitive to all issues that affect its health and standing. Therefore, institutional history is most unforgiving and never condones any act of transgression that brings disrepute to its character. Indian army as an institution is proud of its non-partisan disposition and well-evolved merit-based promotion system.

Devious tweaking of the system by a parochial Chief to ensure elevation of his protégé will always be remembered as a black episode in the history of the Indian army. In a hierarchy based organisation like the army, such transgressions have a complex cascading effect – the complete line of succession for higher ranks has been distorted. Many deserving officers have got left out.

To be trusted is the greatest compliment that a leader can earn. It flourishes on the credibility that a leader enjoys in his command. On the other hand, partisanship is an impropriety of the worst kind and erodes credibility of leaders and undermines their standing in the eyes of the led. Being a beneficiary of partisan dispensation, the new Chief will have to work hard to prove his impartial credentials. One wonders as to how he would muster moral courage to exhort troops to trust the organisation and have faith in the justness of the system. For a military leader, it is the most unenviable situation to be in.

The present Chief will be going out on a moral high. Despite a massive slander campaign launched by the purchased media and some inimical elements, his reputation as an incorruptible leader and a professionally upright commander remains intact. Having faced the wrath of a corrupt, manipulated and prejudiced environment, he will be long remembered for his attempts at cleansing the system. The new Chief will have to contend with his predecessor’s unblemished reputation and live up to it.

Finally, one wonders if it has ever crossed the mind of the Chief-designate that it would have been far more honorable to retire as an upright Army Commander than to become the Chief through questionable means. History will never forget the conspiracy and the subterfuge that facilitated his elevation – turning the national motto ‘Satyamev Jayate’ on its head. It should never be forgotten that when history judges key players in retrospect, it is always unsparing and ruthless in exposing their misdemeanors.

Nelson : thank you very much for sharing the thoughts of Major Gen.(Retd.) Mrinal Suman. Gen. Suman demonstrates once again that many of our warriors can use the pen as deftly as they can wield the sword.

Gen. Suman wonders whether the Chief-designate, Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh, will ever ruminate on the circumstances that propelled him to the present situation. There is little evidence to hope for this.

I crave the indulgence of my BR colleagues to share the words of one of the finest military minds, ever, the great Charles de Gaulle. My BR colleagues are aware that General de Gaulle wrote one of the most scintillating essays on leadership (specially in the military context) in his 1932 book "The Edge of the Sword".

Some of his assessments :

(A) A man of character confers nobility on action; without this spirit, action merely becomes a dismal effort, akin to the work of a slave.

(B) The trust of ordinary people elevates a man of character.

(C) Certain men manifest the essence of authority, the components of which one cannot easily identify.

(D) Authority must always be accompanied by prestige, and prestige demands detachment.

[Rony]

THe rot started with Joginder jaswant singh, deepak kapur, now bikram singh and in the future dalbir singh suhag - all of them part of so called sikh/punjabi coterie within the army who are also part of so called 'sucession plan' started by jj singh.

[Roperia]

Thank you for you service Gen Singh! All the best to you and your family!

The General goes home, End of an Era

BAPORA VILLAGE ( BHIWANI, HARYANA):
...
Reach Bhiwani and ask anybody where is General Sahab’s village and one will be automatically guided to his modest pink and yellow house, equipped with bare minimum things. Only his drawing room seemed to have got a new sofa few years ago.
“What did he (the Army Chief) get for being honest? See his home; he has not added any property in his career, everything is ancestral. Had it not been the case, politicians would have fixed him by now for standing up against corruption,” his other cousin Honorary Captain (retd) Krishan Pal Singh chipped in.
...
The village is proud of the General’s achievement as he is the first to have risen to the highest rank; earlier his father Col Jagat Singh was the highest-ranking army officer from the village. In his career spanning 42 years, the Army Chief has always topped the merit list. He is a graduate of the Wellington-based Defence Services Staff College as well as the US Army War College at Carlisle. He also did a Rangers Course, a prestigious commando training, at Fort Benning in the US
....
“I had asked the General to get my son recruited in Army as jawan. He said if somebody is fit, he will get chance on his own. I will not recommend anybody. He is that honest,” Tejbir Singh added.
...
End of an Era

When Army Chief General V K Singh hangs his boots on May 31, an era of Indian military history will come to an end —as he would be the last of the Army Chiefs to have seen action in India’s last full-fledged war of 1971. His successor Lt Gen Bikram Singh was commissioned into the force in 1972.
As a young Sub Lieutenant in the Rajput Regiment in 1971, General Singh had started training the Mukti Bahini army for the liberation of former East Pakistan on June 19. The experience in the 1971 war laid down the foundations of a keen strategist that he is known as presently. “Just before the war, Vijay had come to the village on leave. And he especially went and bought a lungi so that he can easily mix with the Mukti Bahini troops he was going to train,” said his cousin Krishan Pal Singh.

Also during 1971 war, one of his fellow officers had stepped on an anti-personnel mine and got blown up. He was severely injured and the General—then a young Sub-Lieutenant—carried him on his shoulder all the way to hospital. The officer lost a limb but survived to tell the tale of General Singh’s dedication towards his troops and fellow officers.

In 2011 when V K Singh again set foot on Bangladeshi soil as the Indian Army Chief, he carried along with him some “relics of 1971 war” to gift his Bangladeshi counterpart.

“Participating in an operation gives an army officer an experience which no amount of theory or courses can impart. So in that sense this experience will definitely be missed in the higher echelons of the Indian Army,” said an officer. The Army Chief, first commando to rise to the highest rank, later took part in Operation Pawan of the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka against LTTE. “He is an expert in operations and planning and using the arms to their maximum. He turned all the rifles into LMG (Light Machine Guns) in Sri Lanka; even the LTTE guerillas were scared of him,” said Krishan Pal who had accompanied him as part of the troops who had gone to the island nation.

The Army Chief had learnt his first lessons of the war in 1971. The 13-day Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971 is one of the shortest wars in the modern history that also resulted in the formation of a new country. During the war, the Indian armed forces fought in both the eastern and western frontier before the Pakistani Army signed an Instrument of Surrender, and over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers were taken as Prisoners of War by India.

As a build-up to this, thousands of Bangladeshis were given shelter in refugee camps on the Indian side. These camps were used for training the fighters of the Mukti Bahini.

[nelson]

Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh in fresh row over purchase of phone-tapping machines

[member_23461]

We are proud of Gen VK Singh and his service to the nation. The "truth" they say "is the daugther of time." While much has been spoken about the General's vices and virtues on this blog, time itself will reveal the truth like daylight.

[Lalmohan]

increasingly it looks like the age row was manufactured to sideline him before he exposed the mafia

[Sanku]

increasingly it looks like the age row was manufactured to sideline him before he exposed the mafia

With the full backing and support of a large part of political power in the ruling dispensation.

This matter is primarily as much a issue of political powers interfering in institutions to seek illegal gains, as it is a issue of simple corruption in a few deals.

[sum]

Thank God that's over...

Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 29th May 12

On April Fools’ Day 2010, while taking over as Chief of Army Staff, General V K Singh identified his foremost goal as restoring the army’s “internal health”. On Thursday, in what surely will be a frosty ceremony, he will hand over to his successor, General Bikram Singh, an army whose generals are badly divided. Not even in the 1950s and 1960s, when the ambitious Lieutenant General B M Kaul exploited his proximity to Jawaharlal Nehru to split the officer community into pro-Kaul and anti-Kaul factions, did India witness the sorry spectacle of an army chief publicly denigrating his top commanders.

Where did V K Singh go wrong? Many argued (including this columnist) that the army chief was within his rights to take his government to the Supreme Court. This after the defence ministry rejected his petition to adjust his date of birth, and thereby allow him another 10 months in office. But once the Supreme Court judges rubbished his case in court, forcing him to withdraw his petition, V K Singh faced the prospect of an anonymous retirement just four months away.

His desperate riposte was ill-judged from the start. Soon after his setback in the Supreme Court, a group of illustrious citizens, including a retired navy chief, Admiral Ramdas, filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court that rested on the communal narrative of a Sikh conspiracy to get General Bikram Singh into office. While the petitioners cannot be conclusively linked with V K Singh, the evidence suggests that they were at least manipulated by him. On February 10, the day V K Singh withdrew from the Supreme Court, the general’s henchmen approached me with a detailed briefing on “Operation Moses”. Reduced to its cringe-worthy essentials, this had Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife; Planning Commission Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his wife; former army chief General J J Singh and his wife; and the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (every Sikh down the chain, you get the drift?) in cahoots to get V K Singh out of office on May 31, 2012, when Bikram Singh would be poised to take over from him. I declined to pursue these improbable and slanderous allegations. Regrettably, Admiral Ramdas & Co approached the Supreme Court, challenging Bikram Singh’s appointment.

Perhaps this communalism should not have been a surprise. After all, the Rajput card was played without compunction whilst V K Singh was fighting his date of birth battle. A group of Rajput parliamentarians was dispatched to the prime minister to plead on his behalf. When a proxy was needed to file a Supreme Court writ petition on the general’s date of birth, the “Rohtak Grenadiers’ Association”, packed with the general’s fellow-Rajputs, was conveniently at hand.

Sadly for V K Singh, nothing worked. The PM politely reminded the Rajput MPs that the army must remain apolitical. The Supreme Court, less politely, dismissed the Rohtak Grenadiers’ Association writ petition. And the apex court, while throwing out the “Operation Moses” writ petition in end-April, scolded the petitioners for communalising the issue.

With avenues closing fast, V K Singh apparently decided to use his office to launch himself into politics. By end-March, he had donned the garb of an anti-corruption crusader. First an earlier interview was dusted out in which he described turning down a Rs 14 crore bribe by one of his senior generals; that was followed in short order by the leak of his letter (still a whodunit!) to the PM warning about the army’s poor state of operational readiness. The insinuation was clear: with corruption below him and indifference above, V K Singh alone was a bastion of morality. Last month, in an unabashedly political move, the chief travelled to Ballia for a Samajwadi Party function to unveil a statue of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar.

Last Friday, the outgoing chief proved that he had lost any lingering trace of judgement. Sharing a platform with R K Anand – a disreputable lawyer who the Supreme Court convicted for contempt of court after an NDTV camera caught him buying off a key witness in the notorious BMW kill-and-run case – V K Singh launched a public tirade against one of his corps commanders, Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag, ironically accusing him of making public a show-cause notice issued to him. Suhag was apparently being targeted as the army chief who would take over from Bikram Singh. Earlier that day, V K Singh had attended an ex-servicemen’s rally in Dharamsala, where he sat listening as former Congressman Vijay Singh Mankotia flayed the government.

The young and mid-ranking officers, and the rank and file, remain untouched by V K Singh’s shenanigans. Bikram Singh has his task cut out for him: to apply a healing touch and to visibly and conclusively bury the vendettas that V K Singh pursued. The corrosiveness of the outgoing chief will itself make his successor look good. Above all, Bikram Singh must embrace the virtues of silence. An army chief expresses himself with tanks and guns, not in lengthy interviews on news television.

Shukla-sir really seems to have turned 180 degrees on his view about Gen.Singh within 2 months!

[Jaybhatt]

Thank God that's over...

Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 29th May 12

Shukla-sir really seems to have turned 180 degrees on his view about Gen.Singh within 2 months!

Hardly surprising. Shows how fickle the hacks are. And that is putting it very diplomatically.

[Sanku]

Shukla is very unethical, his hatchet jobs against Indian services and DRDO etc are well documented.

[merlin]

His masters voice. Nothing more. Nothing less.

[Nikhil T]

Thank God that's over...

Shukla-sir really seems to have turned 180 degrees on his view about Gen.Singh within 2 months!

Hardly surprising. Shows how fickle the hacks are. And that is putting it very diplomatically.

This is not being fickle. Why do we assume that stated positions cannot be changed in due course of time especially in face of new events? In the case of the Arjun tank, everyone jovially cites Ajai's u-turn because it was in line with the popular view here (to which I am a subscriber as well).

Ajai has been a big supporter of Gen VKS on dozens of NDTV shows, even to the point of strongly disagreeing with some of the ex-Generals who sided with the Govt during the age controversy. Just recently, he came out in support of Gen VKS in the Tatra scam controversy. In this article, he has stated his reasons for his disapproval of the good General's recent actions and Jaybhatt, you yourself agreed with one of these reasons a few posts up (R K Anand issue). Remember, Shukla has donned the military olives before, so his u-turn is not out of a lack of understanding of the situation.

We must resist the temptation of branding every defence journalist either a DDM or a 'sell-out hack'.

[nelson]

Yes, his u-turn is out of realpolitik compulsions that he has to face from 31 May 2012 AN.

[Pranav]

In this article, he has stated his reasons for his disapproval of the good General's recent actions

He is being disingenuous ... the PIL was moved by people like Adm Bhagwat and was about the rampant corruption in promotions. Whether we can afford to have a situation in which men are ordered to risk their lives by superiors who have been promoted on considerations other than merit. He tries to paint the complainants as communal.

[Karan M]

The point is that Ajai Shukla could be honestly mistaken. He was similarly dismissive of the Arjun and actually changed his view over the course of time. There are some details he strings together which do not add up in this one article.

For instance he accuses VKS of playing the Rajput card - one of the things he mentions there is the Rohtak based Grenadiers association being a VKS supporter. As I recall, VKS went to court precisely to preempt this attempt by the Association to file a petition based on wrong claims in court and hence damage his standing by default....this was even referred to as vested interests by his supporters. Similarly, Ajai just dismisses, out of hand, the communal angle from the "other side"....whereas evidence could exist albeit in a more subtle manner. In the past, the Akalis have lobbied on behalf of certain officers, have they not. Finally, this entire "lobbying on behalf of VKS", if conducted in a crude manner, seems fairly plausible as a disinfo campaign run by the likes of the same gents who did the bugging episode & others.

Ajai also seems to disagree with the TV interview business and thinks that was not done. Perhaps. Many Armed forces officers and civil service people or who served the GOI would think likewise. They simply cannot make the leap to think of speaking out against the system themselves.

But its also equally true that other chiefs (JJ Singh for example) have hardly been media averse, and second, few faced the kind of personal vendetta VKS faced. For instance, Deepak Kapur too faced serious challenges, rather his subordinates did, but he did not seek out the media, perhaps because he could have been facing some tough questions he could not answer. VKS faced the channels with the confidence and sang froid of a man who did not have anything to fear, to me, that speaks volumes.

I think VKS faced the "system" and was finally frustrated enough to actually use all the tricks in the book to reform, recast it.

That sort of dirt is not something Ajai has seen first hand. He rose to the level of a Colonel. While his friends may "tell" him of their issues, he is unlikely to understand till he experiences them first hand. It marks the huge distinction between talking of bribes etc at the level of rupees 20, 50 etc as the common citizen does, as versus the "seeing is believing aspect" of the level of corruption the CAG implicates in the thousands of crores.

As somebody who respects the Army and was in the system, perhaps Ajai wanted a chief who played by the rules and still won. I am sorry, but after the wind blows remark, I can merely remark, that is completely unlikely to happen, with even a key component of reform admitting its hands are tied. Our entire edifice is severely affected.

One can only hope that since General Bikram Singh is coming in under such strained circumstances, he proves himself to be a soldiers soldier and if there are those who wanted him for their own dubious agenda's, proves all that to be wrong & goes by what the Army and nation need, first and foremost.

[Karan M]

In this article, he has stated his reasons for his disapproval of the good General's recent actions

He is being disingenuous ... the PIL was moved by people like Adm Bhagwat and was about the rampant corruption in promotions. Whether we can afford to have a situation in which men are ordered to risk their lives by superiors who have been promoted on considerations other than merit. He tries to paint the complainants as communal.

He makes the huge assumption that people who supported VKS are all belonging to one group - Rajputs - and since sections brought up the succession plan issue - which referenced another group - Sikhs, it was communalism on behalf of group 2. He listens to the most "out there" remark from group1 - which he thinks are directly linked to VKS (no proof though) and dismisses the second possibility (that there could be something to manipulations by Group 2 out of hand). Sorry, but to a naive eye, it does appear the communal angle is there on the other foot. DK, JJS, VKS (the one out..), BS, and then DSS...it does appear slanted, especially if there are severe strictures/complaints against the ones apart from VKS.