There is no war on, but Gen.
VK Singh is creating battles for him to fight. The age row was over when the
Supreme Court did not support his stand. But the Army Chief maintains that the
Date of Birth (DoB) issue was brought up by interested parties because he “cracked down on
corruption”.
Now he is trying to hit back apparently without proper advice and consideration. The two major steps he has
taken in this connection are (a) an interview with The Hindu and (b) letter to the PM on the 12th of this
month narrating what he claims to be the pitiable condition of the Army and the
Air Force.
In the interface with the
newspaper Singh says an officer under him approached him with an offer of a
bribe of Rs.14 crores if the Army keeps on buying sub-standard trucks that are
imported by a public sector company.
Whether public sector organizations can have middlemen in dealing with the
Defence Forces is another matter.
Strangely, the Army Chief
took no action against the subordinate officer concerned. One cannot be blamed
for wondering whether he did not have the guts to do so. But he wanted someone
else to handle that and therefore verbally informed the Defence Minister Mr. AK
Antony. Well, Antony
is nobody’s fool. He told the General to take action.
This was about one and a
half years back. Gen. VK Singh neither gave a written report to the Minister nor
took any action. He simply waited for the person he accused, Lt. Gen. Tejinder
Singh, to retire. After losing the DoB case, and at the fag end of his career,
he brings the ‘incident’ to public attention possibly in the hope of hitting
back at the Government. It would be good if he realistically estimates the
credibility he has with the public, politicians and the Government.
Now, let us look at the Army
Chief’s letter to the PM which has been leaked out by someone. If he had sent
that communication (in all propriety to the Defence Minister) two years back,
one could have appreciated his eagerness to set things right in our Army and
Air Force. But he has done that just two months before his retirement. Why did
he wait all this time?
The questions that comes to
one’s mind are whether Gen. VK Singh is at least partially responsible for the
apparently dangerous situation the country is facing because of the ill equipped Army and what he did to set matters
right. Some people might think that the communication to the PM is advance bail
for the condition that the Army is in after two years under him.
The strategy and tactics
adopted by Gen. VK Singh seem to have been wrong. Lt. Gen. (Retd) Tejinder
Singh has reportedly filed a defamation suit against the present Chief. The CBI
is all set to question him. He does not seem to have received any meaningful
support from the politicians. Some say that he is frustrated. Others demand
that he be sacked.
Has Gen. VK Singh considered
the damage that all these cause the morale of the Armed Forces? Then,
again, other countries must be laughing at us.
The citizens have the right
to know the truth.
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