Indian Defence Review

Some veterans point out that write ups like these do not appear in case of IAS and for appointment like Defence Secretary or Cabinet Secretary but then aren’t they from the breed of the chosen ones? Who is at the core of the mafia if not the bureaucracy albeit some good ones do get sandwiched by virtue of their appointment? Are they not managing the best of the deals for themselves; postings, prestige, promotions, pay and allowances, perks, authority, post retirement jobs and benefits, the works? See the life style of MoD officials and veterans, and rightly so, because they are prepared to ‘bend with the wind’ come what may, and work to make the military hierarchy ‘bend with the wind’ come what may. So, if every one of them can eat his cake and take it home too naturally propriety has no value. Why the judiciary at times comes up with ambiguous judgment, leaving the eventual decision to the mafia is too well known and enough has been written in the media about post retirement promises and jobs for many. Rest of the orchestration and fudging by the mafia is done through the media – the variety that are bootlickers to the core, like the dodo reporter saying Mr Narendra Modi had 10,000 strong crowd accompanying him at Varanasi even when the electronic media was showing a three lakh plus crowd stretched over three kilometers. Journalist living way beyond their means are protected even as they blatantly warn the nation (on instructions of the mafia) about an army coup having been put in motion, even though purely fictitious.

Yes, appointment of a Service Chief is very much the prerogative of the government. But do remember that any scam in the country cannot go through without the complicity of the bureaucracy. In the case of MoD, most scams are actually planned and executed at the bureaucratic level. While former ambassador Parthasarthy writes of the incompetence of ‘generalist bureaucrats’ of MoD, another former ambassador (name withheld) who served in MoD too is explicit in saying that the first advice on posting to MoD by those in chair is to look for what the procurements are in  the pipeline and how to make money. Yes there has to be involvement of the Services hierarchy too so it is good to have people that ‘bend with the wind’.

Not many know that the IB keeps a tag and writes an annual report on Brigadier / equivalent level officers and above ranks. The practice perhaps originated with Nehru’s fear of a military coup – forget what the IB should actually be doing. So, just as the now notorious UIAID can be used for identifying which names should be deleted from the voters list, this individual IB report had multiple uses. It gave a handle to the mafia to keep track of any indiscretion however small, maintain contact and convey that the blessed hand is available as protection against larger indiscretions. That ‘blessed hand’ smoothens functioning, postings, and the like. Admittedly, such are few cases but the fact remains that they exist. So when the time comes, for anyone in the top military hierarchy to take a stand, he is just shown a list of those indiscretions and the meltdown results. Many instances are known (also to civilians) but not mentioned here in service interest. Take the ‘Line of Succession’ issue in the case of Gen VK Singh, a former Army Chief recently admitted that all that happened had “already been put in place before he took over.” It is not that this happens every time but then why are questions being raised in the veterans and civilians circles as to where the old breed that took stands has gone. Not that they have vanished altogether. Admiral DK Joshi just recently demonstrated a fine example by resigning.

The tremors in senior military veteran community about the write ups concerning the appointment of Service Chiefs are because we are looking at personalities not the issues involved, whereas, it should be the opposite. Seen in the right perspective, it would change perceptions altogether. Take the article ‘Battle of Army Chief – Former Vs the Next’ by Karan Kharb (http://turningpointindia.blogspot.in/) that went viral in the media. He was not aware of the issues involved and had not read the article ‘Putting Criminals in Command’ by MG Devasahayam (http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/04/putting-criminals-in-command.html) but having done so had a different take; saying that if such gross abuse of AFSPA had happened then court martial was in order irrespective of what rank and appointment the officer held. However the mafia having permeated even the PMO, all efforts will be made to suppress facts under influence of powerful vested interests fully supported by the mainline media, and this is not happening for the first time. It must be understood that what matters is not individuals but the institution of the Military; the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. If a former Army Chief with six veteran officers is denied laying a wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti (India Gate) and rushed by two companies of RAF and water cannons as if the vetrerans with ceremonial caps and medals on their chests were going to break the law, it is the institution of the Army that is shamed and not a former Army Chief and veterans.

When a former Chief informs army headquarters that he wants to lay a wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti, it should have been the job of the army headquarters to make all arrangements and obtain permissions, as necessary. Just posting a Colonel in uniform at the site was a needless sham, which should have been avoided if the outcome had already been orchestrated. Here, the requirement was to look at the ‘issue’ involved and not ‘individual’ personality. The serving Army Chief belittled the Army and himself in the process much as he may have been tickled, as Anthony and Shinde would hsve been. The fact that politicians who used hawala being under ISI blackmail has been written about and spoken by former R&AW officers. Notice Anthony’s statement in Parliament “Our soldiers were not killed by Pakistani army but by terrorists wearing the uniform of Pakistani army” as a sequel to a serious border incident by Pakistan, a statement he was forced to reneged later, which he did without showing any shame.

Military is and should be a matter of faith but when things need correction, the best policy to ones’ mind is transparency. The public understands that with all the scams, there indeed are blackguards in the Services but that they are few and by and large the Military is an outstanding organization – the last bastion, as in old times. At the same time, the military needs to introspect as well as much good would come out of this. There is need for transparency. Pick up a US Military journal and you would find a Captain level officer writing what is wrong in the service. Do we permit that in India? An Army Commander commanding ARTRAC was once suggested that the ARTRAC magazine should be made open forum, with the noting at the bottom of individual write up saying these are individual views of the officer. The immediate retort by the Army Commander was “tum to marwa doge”. Then is the question whether it is desirable to expose the politico-bureaucratic-mafia nexus and those who are ‘bending with the wind’ in the Services for whatever reason, their actions not being in national and service interests. If this is not desirable then it simply means that ‘everything’ is in order.

On the other hand, if everything is not in order (which is the undisputed fact), then it is desirable, and exposure is the only way out especially with the mafia having seeped skin deep in the hierarchical disposition. Interestingly, on the issue of demands for representation of Defence Forces in in the 7th Central Pay Commission being completely ignored by Government of India, a Facebook friend (Steve SS Pangs) wrote, “Service Veterans have enough intellect to strategize a way of forcing the government for positive action. It is a matter of cohesive thinking, making an action plan, distributing responsibility and continuous execution, mobilizing media awareness, peace marches, petitions on change.org, generating massive online support and the like would help”.

For anyone having donned uniform, the Military becomes a faith. Every soldier and veteran wants that faith to remain upright. But there are multiple ways to uphold the faith. Let everyone follow their chosen path as long as their belief is firm in this faith, the Military.