Epaulettes Flying, Khadi Swaying

In January 2012 his interest in the newspapers had suddenly increased. In fact for the last few months he was keeping a close watch on some news related to the army commander-in-chief and the government concerning the date of birth controversy. He had retired as honorary captain from the army. During his service days there were so many occasions when he felt the top army brass could have acted like a professional defense unit, but many a decision had sounded completely politically correct. In the deepest of his secret self, he had condemned the decorated officers above the rank of colonel as the perfect politicians in army uniforms. He was first hand witness to blatant corruption in the safe and lucrative army corridors of procurement and supplies. There were so many internal, safe corruption-worthy lanes and by-lanes in the army cantonments, without accountability and check-balances by anything and anybody from outside, that he had suspicions many a time that the political leaders, who survived on short-cuts on laws and jurisprudence at each step, deliberately allowed these coffer-bursting corruption cases in the army, a sort of mutual agreement that we won’t interfere on your militarized version of making a bit extra money, unless you never ruffle the epaulettes come whatever may, however wrong things might get at the civilian front.  

So the patriotic Indian Army rarely showed concerns when it came to the things going bad at the civilian front, whatever the misery levels, and rightly so because India is a democracy and military interference in civilian affairs might very well lead to the dictatorial overtures. Thus all of us agree that India being the world’s largest democracy has to authorise total civil, democratic control over the army. He had always concluded that the political leadership never spoke against any type of tip-offs regarding the corruption in the army as a bargain for the army not being interested in anything civilian-type wrong doing. But of late there were some political news emanating even from the politically sterile high offices in the army brass. India had an extra-assertive army chief, General V.K. Singh whose enthusiasm in managing his soldiers seemed to step on the toes of the political leadership. Unavoidably there was this odd clash between the civilian leaders and the army chief. 

The retired honorary captain’s long-expectant heart went for a leap as the ‘age controversy’ aggravated and hogged media highlight during the chilly winters in Delhi. There was a mismatch in the General’s date of birth. The Government wanted the suitable date that would mean the General getting retirement earlier than what he claimed on the basis of his more suitable birth date. There were rumours that the General might be sacked; there were equally strong rumours that the General might even put some unorthodox pressure unheard of from an Indian army boss. He was pitching for the General, raising lots of argumentative support for the mighty, baritone-voiced General in that he will teach the politicians a lesson. The General would not backtrack on his claims; the Government seemed all eager to sack him. In the middle of January there were flash-lighting rumours that army columns had moved a bit more proudly to Delhi as a token of support for their boss. It raised many interpretations and raised still more eyebrows. With ecstatic gesticulations he was vouching for their authenticity, stressing that he knew from a creditable source. 

To a set of retired civilian non-believers he was trying his level best to make them understand that the spineless UPA government was trying its best to play down the issue of the military units suddenly moving to Delhi on 16-17 January. As we all remember it was the time when General V.K. Singh filed a petition in the Supreme Court regarding his age controversy. Anything could have happened. The ex-soldier claimed, a lesser soldier, like most of his predecessors (semi-politician men of arms), would have been easily cowed down by the Defense Ministry. But the corrupt horde is against a real soldier this time, he raised a verbal tirade of support for the General. Without any risk to his pension now, he even declared prophetically, ‘It has been an irony in this country that the Indian defense forces have sacrificed so much across the volatile borders, meanwhile the larger enemies got ingrained almost legally within the constitutional machinery of the state and raped public confidence.’

Like any other soldier or the civilian he agreed that the way things were allowed to go astray during the UPA misrule, it was no surprise that the Civil Society took the battle march against the enemies of the state. Like the common man’s peril of reading too much into common things and being totally ignorant of the real issues, he had his version of the causes of the controversy. He linked it to the civil revolts against the government: 

How long can you expect that the armymen will continue to shed blood for the enemy outside while leaving a free ground for the goons in khadi to plunder mother India. Whatever that has happened during General V.K. Singh's term as the Indian military chief cannot be confined within strictly the date of birth controversy. It is a symbol of larger meanings. We can logically surmise that the Indian army has started to understand the extent of harm done by the civilian government. For too long the Indian army was pampered exclusively in an abstract zone: a zone where corruption, nepotism and all the corrupt versions of civilian political scoundrelship were freely allowed to thrive by the Defense Ministry. Meanwhile it was stage-managed that the posts above Colonel were made more or less political in nature. These above-Colonel semi-politician-semi-military men acquiesced all the mucking game going inside and outside the army's domain. Then came General V.K. Singh! He understood the definition of the state enemy in its appropriate dimensions, i.e., both outside and inside the state. So all the problems started with this understanding only. I think it’s a healthy precedent that one of the mighty constituents of the Indian State is asserting its place as a counterpoise to other wings of the state. The theoretical fools of democracy may give more task to their tongues by forecasting PAKISTAN LIKE army takeover in future, but it at least should send a clear signal to the corrupt civilian government that it can no longer take the support of army for granted like before. As far as the General in concerned, he has a lot to offer as a true Indian in his civilian innings after May 31, 2012. God Bless Him!

Well, the post-retirement General did offer his services to the Anna movement and as coming times would tell, he even got a political reward for all his hardships during the UPA government. He is serving mother India as a soldier politician now.