CHANDIGARH: Former Chief of Army Staff General VK Singh recently said in Amritsar that the Indian army had initially refused to carry out Operation Bluestar to flush out militants from Golden Temple. Moreover, he said, sending army to the Golden Temple was a political and not a military decision. None of the dramatis personae involved in the plot are alive today to refute what he said. Also, the General needs to know that all the decisions including the military decisions in a democracy all primarily political. Even going to the war is political and not a military decision.
The General has mostly been in the news for all the wrong reasons. He did it while in the service and being the Chief of Army Staff by raising a controversy over his age trying to make everyone in the country believe that he was one year younger than he was mentioned in his records, which incidentally he had done himself.
Now again, post retirement, nourishing a grudge and grievance against the Congress led UPA government that his age was not lowered down by a year so that he would be the COAS for one year more, he has joined the bandwagon of the team Anna and the Aam Aadmi Party. Besides, he also shared dais with former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, again known more for wrong rather than right things.
Having developed a knack for news that has turned into an obsessive addiction now, the General once again stirred a controversy that the Indian army was not in favour of launching the operation Bluestar to flush out militants from Golden Temple. He has the audacity, which he nevertheless always has, to claim that the then COAS Gen AS Vaidya had refused to send his troops into the Golden Temple and the then Prime Minister Ms Indira Gandhi had forced him to do so.
Gen Singh knows it too well that neither Gen Vaidya, nor Ms Gandhi or any other person involved in the decision making at that level is alive today. Even General K Sunderji, who headed the Western Command during the time of the operation, is no more. Rightly nobody has taken Gen Singh's claims seriously and dismissed these with the due scorn these deserve.
At the same time it is highly unbecoming of General Singh to have come out with such a controversial statement that seems to be far from the reality. Never ever has this been substantially established that the Indian army was reluctant to carry out the operation. Moreover, Singh being the 1970 batch officer was too junior in 1984 to be privy to any decisions taken by the army. He has no authority to speak after 29 years of an operation which was necessitated, rather thrust on the nation.
The retired general needs to exercise restraint. He has crossed all the limits of decorum, decency and discipline required of a former soldier and the COAS at that. Gen Singh, by playing to the gallery is tarnishing the image of the country and the army alike.
He needs to be told that in a democracy all decisions are political and even the military decisions like going to the war have to be political only and not military. Let us hope that General Singh thinks before he speaks lest he puts his foot in his mouth the way he has put now. When he cannot speak with conclusive proof and evidence he should better keep quiet. What he is trying to do is simply selling the presumptions as facts which is unacceptable.
General VK Singh turning into a lose canon Punjab News | Breaking News | Latest Online News
The General has mostly been in the news for all the wrong reasons. He did it while in the service and being the Chief of Army Staff by raising a controversy over his age trying to make everyone in the country believe that he was one year younger than he was mentioned in his records, which incidentally he had done himself.
Now again, post retirement, nourishing a grudge and grievance against the Congress led UPA government that his age was not lowered down by a year so that he would be the COAS for one year more, he has joined the bandwagon of the team Anna and the Aam Aadmi Party. Besides, he also shared dais with former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, again known more for wrong rather than right things.
Having developed a knack for news that has turned into an obsessive addiction now, the General once again stirred a controversy that the Indian army was not in favour of launching the operation Bluestar to flush out militants from Golden Temple. He has the audacity, which he nevertheless always has, to claim that the then COAS Gen AS Vaidya had refused to send his troops into the Golden Temple and the then Prime Minister Ms Indira Gandhi had forced him to do so.
Gen Singh knows it too well that neither Gen Vaidya, nor Ms Gandhi or any other person involved in the decision making at that level is alive today. Even General K Sunderji, who headed the Western Command during the time of the operation, is no more. Rightly nobody has taken Gen Singh's claims seriously and dismissed these with the due scorn these deserve.
At the same time it is highly unbecoming of General Singh to have come out with such a controversial statement that seems to be far from the reality. Never ever has this been substantially established that the Indian army was reluctant to carry out the operation. Moreover, Singh being the 1970 batch officer was too junior in 1984 to be privy to any decisions taken by the army. He has no authority to speak after 29 years of an operation which was necessitated, rather thrust on the nation.
The retired general needs to exercise restraint. He has crossed all the limits of decorum, decency and discipline required of a former soldier and the COAS at that. Gen Singh, by playing to the gallery is tarnishing the image of the country and the army alike.
He needs to be told that in a democracy all decisions are political and even the military decisions like going to the war have to be political only and not military. Let us hope that General Singh thinks before he speaks lest he puts his foot in his mouth the way he has put now. When he cannot speak with conclusive proof and evidence he should better keep quiet. What he is trying to do is simply selling the presumptions as facts which is unacceptable.
General VK Singh turning into a lose canon Punjab News | Breaking News | Latest Online News