The General’s Bombshell MG Devasahayam Kautilya said this centuries ago and the General turned President of USA, Dwight Eisenhower reiterated it some decades ago: “When diplomats fail to maintain peace, the soldier is called upon to restore peace. When civil administration fails to maintain order, the soldier is called to restore order. As the nation’s final safeguard, the army cannot afford a failure in either circumstance. Failure of army can lead to national catastrophe, endangering the survival of the nation”. Nothing more need to be said on the honour that is due to our armed forces and the criticality of an abiding and cordial civil-military relationship. Such relationship cannot float on shallow waters. In war or conflicts military men do not offer the supreme sacrifice just for money or rank. There is something far more precious called patriotism and honour and this is embedded in the Indian Military Academy credo which none of the civil-political leaders have gone through but most military leaders have. Civil-military relationship should be moored on such an anchor. But we are nowhere near it because civilian mindset is still akin to the colonial-feudal-aristocratic dictum of Alfred Lord Tennyson (Charge of the Light Brigade-1854): “Theirs is not to reason why, but to do and die!” This is reflected in the observations made by the Union Minister of State of Defence while delivering the Field Marshal KM Cariappa Memorial Lecture in 2012 soon after General VK Singh demitted office as India’s Army Chief: ‘The military forces have remained loyal to the elected government and have been its obedient servant.’ In the event it was left to the military leaders to attempt an appropriate definition, and two of them have done so. In his treatise ‘The Soldier and the State’ (1998) former Naval Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat lays it down with fair amount of clarity: “The modern military profession exists as part of the government insofar as the term government includes the executive departments of the nation-state... Modern democracies therefore pay great attention to the supremacy of the political class over the military in governance, normally referred to as civilian control of the military. This is clearly how it should be, since all ultimate power and decision making should be wielded by the elected representatives of the people.” On the eve of his demitting office, General VK Singh fully endorsed this view with a compelling caveat: “I am a firm believer in civilian supremacy over the military in a democracy. I subscribe to the views of the former Naval Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. However, civilian supremacy must always be rooted on the fundamental principles of justice, merit and fairness. Violation of this in any form must be resisted if we are to protect the Institutional Integrity of our Armed Forces.” Combined views of former Navy and Army Chiefs, sets forth certain non-negotiable imperatives for civil-military relationship: Democracy as a vibrant and functioning entity with the ‘elected representatives of the people’ running the government as per established democratic norms; Military profession existing as part of such government; Civilian supremacy to be exercised by the ‘elected representatives of the people’; Such supremacy to be rooted on the principles of justice, merit and fairness; Violation of this can be resisted to protect the Institutional Integrity of Armed Forces. Whether the government is being run as per established democratic norms is a billion people question. Even so, India’s professional military is meant to protect, safeguard and sustain our Democratic Republic wherein live one-sixth of the human race. Therefore it is imperative that an honourable and workable civil-military relationship framework existed, practiced and sustained. Not having one has led to the situation that has been analysed in the ‘The Hindu’ article (The general and his stink bombs-30 September, 2013). Though the blame for this must squarely rest with successive governments now is not the time to wail. What is needed is understanding the situation before seeking solutions. Opening words of The Hindu’ article puts it succinctly: “The ongoing furore over former army chief General VK Singh has turned the spotlight on the dysfunctional relationship between our democracy and the military.” How did the furore start? More than General VK Singh ‘sharing the dais’ with Narendra Modi at an ex-servicemen’s rally in Haryana, it has to do with diverting media/public attention from the scandalous decision directing Nuclear Power Corporation of India to buy 6x1000 MW reactors costing Rs. 90,000 crores for the Mithivirdi (Gujarat) Nuclear Power Project from the US multinational Westinghouse Electric Company by waiving a key provision of India’s nuclear liability law that would hold the US company liable in the event of an accident caused by faulty or defective equipment thereby exposing Indian public to possible death and destruction without compensation. On 19th September, this scandal was exposed by ‘The Hindu’ and TIMES NOW. So, on 20th September, the now infamous ‘leak’ was planted in a national daily and cleverly orchestrated by spin-doctors blocking out the truth behind the ‘nuclear prostration’. And all hell broke loose! Words were said that were not meant to be said and the whole thing turned unseemly and unfortunate. Why this happened? Here is a four-star General, who commanded 1.3 million officers and soldiers of one of the finest Armies in the world, while serving, was accused by a national daily of engineering a coup to overthrow the Government of India. Within hours in a well-calibrated outcry several MPs, including the just convicted Lalu Prasad Yadav, wanted the General to be summarily sacked and arrested! Even after a year and a half, this blasphemy is yet to be probed and the seditious intent brought to light! And now as if driving spear into a festering wound, the same daily ‘leaks’ a top secret report on the functioning of the Technical Services Division (TSD) of the Army suggesting that he has bribed politicians to overthrow the J&K government! By all accounts, TSD is a covert operation agency, activities of which are directly related to the safety of the soldiers on the borders, retribution on the enemy and the security of the citizens. By its very nature TSD operation was ‘top secret’. In that event, even the existence of this unit should never have been publicised. Even knowledge of the existence of TSD can help the nations enemies and subvert the interests of the country. As to how critical the TSD functioning would have been let me quote the prominent columnist Madhav Nalapat (Sunday Guardian-28 Sept): “The recent Samba attack by Pakistan-based elements (wherein several soldiers including a Lt. Col. were killed) could have been avoided if the TSD had not been shut down, claim senior military officers who wish to remain unnamed…..These officers say that the scrapping of the TSD is a major reason why there has been a spurt in cross-border intrusions over the past year, and warn that unless the organisation gets re-established, counter-insurgency operations will suffer.” Be that as it may, let us not keep ruing the spilt milk, but instead move forward. A beginning can be made by the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister getting out of their Ostrich-like hibernation and dust out the 15 month old letter written by Admiral L Ramdas, former Naval Chief raising serious military and national security issues seeking a high-level inquiry and remedial action. These include allegations of bribes offered to the General himself; corruption in the purchase of defence equipment -Tatra deal and other scams; leakage of a ‘top secret’ letter from the Army chief to the Prime Minister regarding defence unpreparedness; perpetuating an obnoxious ‘line of succession’ in the Army; suggestion that the Army chief was spying on the Defence Minister and worst of all, accusing him of plotting a coup to over-throw the Government of India! If the General’s Bombshell could achieve this the nation and its people would be better and safer and relationship between our democracy and the military could become far more conducive! [Author is former Army (Infantry) and IAS Officer] __________________
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 08:38:19 +0000
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