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  Firewall Army from adverse fallout

Firewall Army from adverse fallout

Published : Aug 20, 2016, 12:37 am IST
Updated : Aug 20, 2016, 12:37 am IST

The conduct of Gen. V.K.

The conduct of Gen. V.K. Singh, former Chief of Staff and currently minister of state for external affairs, when he headed the Indian Army (2010-12), had brought down the well-earned high reputation of that institution a notch. Matters dipped to a low when Gen. Singh went to the Supreme Court against the UPA government on the matter of his age.

Poor temperament and a singular inability to think institutionally can be said to be significant attributes of Gen. Singh’s mental make-up. His going to the Supreme Court and the way he lit into then Lt. Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag, the present head of the Army, and placed him under a disciplinary and vigilance (D&V) suspension — an act that the government later called “illegal” — raised eyebrows in military circles at the highest level.

The chickens have now come home to roost. In an affidavit filed before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in 2012, in a matter brought by a rival for promotion to the rank of Army Chief, then Lt. Gen. Suhag noted that Gen. Singh had sought to “victimise” him with the sole aim of denying him promotion as Army Commander.

He also questioned the “malafide intent” and “mysterious design” of the COAS. When his contention was upheld in the AFT, his rival, Lt. Gen. Ravi Dastane, went to the Supreme Court, where Gen. Suhag, the present COAS, presented the same arguments as he had given the AFT on Wednesday.

Thus an old clash has come out in the open in a manner that reflects poorly on high officials of the state. This is a matter of chance, no doubt, and that is the only extenuating circumstance that exists. When the affidavit in the AFT was filed by Gen. Suhag in his personal capacity, he was not Army Chief and Gen. Singh not a Union minister. Had Lt. Gen. Dastane not approached the Supreme Court, the affidavit submitted to the AFT would not have had a second outing.

Our fervent hope is that the issue in its present form will stop well short of politicising the Army, not least because Gen. Singh (retd) now represents a political party in Parliament, one which is in power.

We also hope that the government, especially defence minister Manohar Parrikar, will ensure that no regional schisms in our forces are fed even inadvertently following the ill-conceived moves initiated by an egotistical, impractical and holier-than-thou man, years ago.