B.RAMAN
Gen.V.K.Singh, who will be retiring as the Chief of
the Army Staff (COAS) on May 31,2012,
will go down in history as a highly competent General, who did not deserve to
be the head of the proud Indian Army despite his excellent record in the
battle-field against our adversaries.
2. He proved during the last months of his tenure
that to command the Indian Army, one’s professional qualities and battle-field
achievements alone are not sufficient. One requires leadership qualities like
firmness in man management combined with fairness to subordinates and
colleagues, discretion, an ability to win the respect of the colleagues and
establish an atmosphere of trust with the political leadership.
3. India has been a successful democracy. Its
success has been due to not only its voters and its electoral system, but also
to the responsible behaviour of the heads of its institutional pillars. Our
Army has always been one of the important institutional pillars of our nation
and democracy.
4. In our 65 years of history as an independent
nation, we have had instances of honest differences of opinion between the COAS
and the political leadership and between the COAS and his senior colleagues.
They were handled in a way as they
ought to be handled in a sensitive institution like the Army--- with a sense of
balance, with mutual respect despite the differences, with discretion and away
from the glare of publicity. We, the people, became aware of such instances
long after the COAS concerned had gone into superannuation.
5. It went to the credit of those chiefs that they
saw to it that their differences did not damage the trust of the political
leadership and the public in our proud Army. An Army marches on its pride and
its image in the eyes of the public. If the pride and the image are damaged,
even the best of weapons and training will be of little avail in maintaining
the battle-hardiness of the Army.
6. In his last months as the chief, Gen.V.K.Singh
played to the gallery and exhibited in public a viciousness towards some of his
senior colleagues, the like of which will not do credit to any institution,
particularly the Army. We have had instances of viciousness in leadership in
other institutions of the Government of India dealing with national security, but
such viciousness was never exhibited in public and did not make the
institutions the laughing stock of the public.
7. Firmness and fairness in man management is the
most important quality the heads of the Armed Forces should have. The esprit de
corps, which keeps them fighting fit all the time and under all circumstances,
depends on those qualities.
8. Gen.Singh
showed himself to be lacking in those qualities. The Indian Army, that
has never been accused or suspected of factionalism, became a breeding ground
of factionalism. The relationship of mutual trust and mutual respect between
the political and military leadership which has been the bedrock of our
successful democracy stands eroded.
9. Over the years, there has been a demand from
strategic analysts in the country for giving our Armed Forces a greater role in
decision and policy making in national security matters on par with practices in
Western democracies. The Government of Dr.Manmohan Singh had initiated a major
exercise to see how this can be done.
10.Any decision to give the Armed Forces a greater
role in decision and policy-making in defence and national security related
matters has to be that of the political leadership. It would depend on its
confidence in the sense of balance, discretion and responsibility of the
military leadership.
11. That confidence is likely to have been eroded
by the way Gen.Singh conducted himself in his sunset months as the COAS. A major
casualty of his behaviour could be the exercise to associate the military
leadership with policy and decision making in an increasing measure.
12. The last months of Gen.Singh as the COAS were a
bad dream for the country. It is hoped that his successor will repair the damage quickly and make the Army once
again one of the important institutional pillars of our democracy and
re-establish its esprit de corps. ( 27-5-12)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For
China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )
