Never before in the history of the Indian Army, has the institution of the Chief of Army Staff been eroded and damaged to the extent it has, than in the recent allegations involving General (retd) Deepak Kapoor, in a series of unbecoming and wanton acts of shameful deeds. Notwithstanding the alleged and established impropriety of a brazen bunch of General rank and senior officers, in a series of disgusting scams comprising meat, cereals, petroleum, liquor, stores, sexual harassment, fake encounters, military intelligence funds, real estate et al , the Adarsh Co-operative Housing scam has nailed the Army’s lie that Chiefs and Vice Chiefs are men of honor and unimpeachable integrity who lead by personal example and epitomize professional rectitude. Nirmal Chand Vij, A S Sihota, Shantanu Choudhary and Deepak Kapoor have besmirched the exalted offices they tenanted in the recent past, by joining the band of one, two and three star General officers who exposed their flanks by profiting from the ignominy of short changing Martyrs.
The present Chief, General V K Singh has come out in the print and electronic media and made an exceptional and unequivocal admission about the hurt it has caused him and the institution of the Chief, by the happenings of the recent past. The faith of the Army in its own exalted Institution has been shaken and imperiled by the likes of Vij and Deepak Kapoor. What is left of the respect and regards that a soldier has for this Office? While General Singh continues to remain sanguine and assured, that the Army will come out of this shameful crisis; brought upon itself by its very own echelon of top ranking General Officers, including two ex Chiefs, my assumption is to the contrary. The reason why I feel as I do is, because the Chief even with his personal penchant for righteous living and integrity, does not have a magic wand with which he can wish and wave away corruption in the Army. Today, the Army does not have a culture which is sustained by the noble credo of ‘Chetwodian’ thought and inspiration. The edifice of culture is beliefs and environment, both of which remain completely marginalized and made defunct. Market forces have equally besieged the personnel of Army and the Armed Forces respectively, as these have done the politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and the laity. The Officer and the soldier is palpably consumed by the meaning and purport of success, which remains pedestalised by the shared social value assigned to it. In the calculus of success, the means no more justify the ends.
The Military environment today lacks conviction and motivation, because the yawning gap betwixt preaching and practice has become huge and is exemplified in the conduct and behaviour of Successful Officers, who may not be Good. The Armed Forces demand of its officers very high standards of leadership, which must evolve from positional to personal and be more character driven than authoritarian. Should General Singh want his men and officers to stand up against all that is wrong and despicable in the System, then the way forward is not by addressing the symptoms of the malaise but instead by overhauling the whole concept of morality and honor as it obtains today, and injecting into it the core values of character driven leadership. Truth must never be punished and a whistle blower upheld than condemned. The challenges which face the present Chief, emerging from the existing crisis and its eventual fallout by coloring the people’s perception, must be made into an opportunity for starting the process of cleansing and purging the monolith organization and giving to it an upright culture which celebrates and glorifies human character, than all else. The Army’s leadership must of necessity be nurtured by the triple values of Character, Competence and Courage, for morality and ethics to become the cornerstone of its Leadership Doctrine. Failing which, there will be no one to ‘Bite The Bullet’ on the misdeeds and wrongs of senior officers, who will continue to wield their positional authority to milk and abuse the System, for personal and selfish gains.
Brigadier(retd) SD Dangwal
Dehra Dun-248001
Tele No-07895131861
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