Fresh Battle for Army Honour
The new Army chief prepares for a clean- up operation as He inherits a force still recovering from controversies swirling around his predecessor
The new Army chief prepares for a clean- up operation as he inherits a force still recovering from controversies swirling around his predecessor.
On May 31, at his first meeting with top commanders at Army Headquarters in New Delhi, General Bikram Singh, 59, the 25th chief of the Army staff, sent a strong signal to his political masters as well as the troops. His mission: Operation CleanUp. “We are proud to be an apolitical Army. There will be no caste bias and no persecution. The Army commanders need to create a climate to strengthen core values and military ethos,” the new chief promised his team of principal staff officers. He will travel across the country to various Army formations and “bring the Army back on track”.
He wants the message to reach the rank and file. After a 26- month tenure, his predecessor, General V. K. Singh, has left a disaffected force behind him. Since the winter of 2010, the Army has been riven with a row over his date of birth. He became the first chief in the history of the Army to file a statutory complaint against the Government. On January 16, 2012, he also became the first chief of the army staff to take the Government to Supreme Court.
He didn’t spare even his brother officers. In a press release issued by the additional directorate general ( public information) on March 5, he accused former director- general defence intelligence agency, Lt- Gen Tejinder Singh, of offering him Rs 14 crore as bribe to clear “substandard” Tatra trucks for the Army. On May 19, he also accused General Officer Commanding 3 Corps, Lt- Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, widely regarded as Gen Bikram Singh’s successor, of abdicating responsibility and not taking action against an officer who “planted” anti- Army stories in the media.
INDIA TODAY has accessed the showcause notice sent by General V. K. Singh to Lt- Gen Suhag and the crux of the general’s anger lies in Point D of the showcause notice. “That it is also learnt that CO 3 Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit ( CISU), during his absence on leave from the unit, was masquerading in Delhi as CO Army
Headquarters Central Intelligence Unit and planting anti- Army stories in the media. The above chain of circumstances indicate that 3 CISU has been handled in the most unprofessional and lackadaisical manner and the chain of command, including GOC 3 Corps, abdicated their responsibility,” says General V. K. Singh in the notice sent on May 19. Lt- Gen Suhag was given seven days notice to respond. Attending to an ailing mother, Lt- Gen Suhag rushed to receive the notice but sought more time. On May 29, the Army chief gave him an additional 10 days to respond.
The outgoing general, however, denied that the notice to Lt- Gen Suhag was an attempt to change the line of succession. “There is no line of succession,’’ General V. K. Singh said in response to a question on the sidelines of a book launch in Delhi. “In the Army, promotions are based on certain laid down criterion. There is no fixed line of succession,” he added.
Promotions of key officers have either been delayed for over a year or continue to be held up. Key strategic positions are vacant: The Yol ( Himachal Pradesh) based 9 Corps was without a GOC for almost five months. The Kolkata- based Eastern Command and Dimapur- based 3 Corps were without a chief of staff for the past several months. Assam Rifles is headless with no director- general appointed for the force. Crucial formations are either without chiefs or without senior officers, affecting their smooth operation.
The promotion board for 1979, 1980 and 1981 batch officers from brigadier to major- general was delayed. The promotion board for the 1979 batch was to be held in October
2010. It was finally held a year later in October 2011 and results declared in April 2012. For the 1980 batch, the promotion board was to be held in April 2011. It has still not been held. The A. V. Singh Committee spoke of younger age profile of commanders but now, with a delay in promotions at all senior ranks, officers are a year or two older than they should ideally be when taking over command.
But the general has done good as well. He took over at a time when the Army was scalded by scandals. After the Sukna and Adarsh land scams, during the 30- month tenure of his predecessor General Deepak Kapoor, General V. K. Singh was seen as a crusader against corruption.
In his earlier stint as Army Commander Eastern Command, the outgoing Army chief had authored a crucial document— Transformation of the Indian Army. He is a third generation soldier, who as Army commander took on mighty generals in the Sukna land scam. When he took over as the Army’s 24th chief, talking to the media, he insisted his first priority was to improve the internal health of the Army and he would start from the top. Lt- Gen P. K. Rath, the 33 Corps Commander and Lt- Gen Avadesh Prakash, the military secretary, were court martialled and sacked for their role in the transfer of 71 acres of Sukna land. Lt- Gen Prakash’s sacking was ratified by the Army chief just last week. He was found guilty of putting pressure on officers at Sukna- based 33 Corps for illegal transfer of land to a private builder. Lt- Gen Prakash has lost the right to use his military rank and lost pension as well as other military benefits post the sacking.
The general didn’t spare even the Government. On May 25, he alleged that the Ministry of Defence was responsible for the leak of his letter to the Prime Minister that pointed out critical deficiencies in defence procurement. When asked about the letter during an interview to a television channel, he alleged that “the whole thing was geared to give the impression that it was V. K. Singh who was leaking it. Somebody had some agenda.” When
GENERALV. K. SINGH HAS DENIED THAT THE NOTICE TO LT- GEN SUHAG WAS AN ATTEMPTTO CHANGE THE ARMY’S LINE OF SUCCESSION.
asked if this somebody was within the Government or outside, he replied: “Has to be within the Government, who will be outside?”
General V. K. Singh was even critical of a serving judge of the Supreme Court when in a television interview he said: “I know what has happened in the Supreme Court. I will not delve into it. At some point of time, later on, I think I will put it down as to what exact information we had on how things have gone on. The only thing I can say is that if at all a very senior Supreme Court judge says ‘ blow with the wind’, I actually rue this fact that I went to the court. If all of us are told to ‘ blow with the wind’ then we will all become muggers, we will all become corrupt. Wind is going that way. Are we going to go that way? That is why it was the end of it. When my lawyer asked me, I said just withdraw. Enough. I don’t want to move ( the court).”
On the eve of his departure, General V. K. Singh has sought to play down differences between the Ministry of Defence and the Army Headquarters. Speaking at the passing out parade of the National Defence Academy, the general said: “There is no divide between the defence ministry and the Army Headquarters. Vested interests may be saying so, but there is no truth in it.”
There will certainly be great interest in knowing what the general does next. As of now, his priority appears to be to complete his doctorate in military science. The general is pursuing his PhD from the Barkatullah University in Madhya Pradesh in the geostrategy of Wakhan, a territory sandwiched between China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Having completed his Rangers Course from Fort Benning, US, in 1976 and his postgraduation in military science from the Defence Services Staff College in 1983, General V. K. Singh wants to complete his PhD in “record time”.
He also plans to teach. The general has offers to teach military science and strategy at various universities in India and abroad. He also has a series of invitations and offers to lecture. But there is much speculation that he will join politics. On April 22, he travelled to Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh to unveil a statue of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar and has been meeting several Rajput leaders. On May 14, he also addressed an ex- servicemen rally at Palra in Jhajjar, Haryana. Will he join Baba Ramdev or Anna Hazare? “The general will continue his crusade against corruption and expose the nexus between arms lobbies, generals and bureaucrats, but he will neither join any political party nor support any group. However, they are all welcome to join him as he raises his voice against corruption,” says a close aide of General V. K. Singh.
This general may be retiring but he isn’t retreating.