Ladies and Gentlemen – A Man Of Courage and Convictions – Lt Col
Arun Jha
It was a welcome surprise to have Lt Col (retd)
Arun Jha, the author of General Salute, Manas Publications, come over to our
apartment E – 102 Arborea Luxury Homes, Dehra Dun 248001 this evening. It was
my first meeting with him and after having absorbed his physical presence and
getting over the initial customary courtesies, Arun settled himself into the
plush and expansive couch beside the wide Fenesta sliding window, in the
southern end of our modest and spacious sitting room. I sat opposite him in a
refurbished straight backed single seat sofa, having English patterned subtle
and bright upholstery encasing it and was separated by a wide square teak - wood
low table. Arun immediately got into a relaxed mood, bereft of any unbecoming
and hypocritical formality, which consumes two strangers, when they meet for
the first time. Our purpose, which we had earlier spoken and shared, probably
induced and elicited that response from him, as it did in me. He and I were
together, to discuss the contents of his book ‘General Salute’, which was
released on 9th April in Delhi. The officer who is a Psc, LLB and
MBA, an alumnus of the NDA and IMA and was commissioned into 2nd
Rajput regiment in 1988, took premature retirement from the Army in 2008, after
being finally superseded for promotion; owing to his penchant for probity and
refusal to accede to a directive from his commandant to sign an impugned Board
of Officers proceeding, which was steeped in financial impropriety. And he paid
a price for it, for he was done in by his courage to stand up to and against
this wrong doing. The cruel, demanding and wimp of a System, which
unfortunately sides with and identifies with rank, was unwilling to uphold and
acknowledge his contention, as addressed in his grievance. His passion to be
ennobled by a higher truth and virtue than a cringing loyalty to his impervious
and unrighteous superior, became his misfortune. I believed him without an iota
of doubt, only because truth has an innate ability of establishing itself even
without a hint of evidence or else corroborating proof, to assert its presence.
It resonates in the quality and clarity of one’s voice and gets seen in the
steadiness of the gaze of the person; which has always been my barometer for
estimating the veracity of a statement or else a narrative. I was never belied
in my manner and method of gauging the truth, because it is intuitive.
I was completely consumed by the deportment,
vocabulary, honesty, intent and body language of Arun, while he narrated to me
the motivation and purpose to write the book ‘General Salute’, which essentially
and in substantial measure removes the blanket from the real persona of the man
who occupied the exalted and enviable office of the Chief of Army Staff, till
30th May 2012, General (retd )VK Singh . As his adjutant in the
regiment ie 2nd Rajput, with just about five years of service, Arun
had taken the retired General to the Allahabad High Court, on a matter of
principles. It was to vindicate his prestige and place in the regiment, as a
regimental officer, that Arun took the extreme and drastic measure to rein in
his Commanding Officer from misusing his authority to snuff out any dissent
from brewing in the unit, even when it was sustained by an arbitrary and
megalomaniacal behaviour of the latter. An unfortunate, but nonetheless brave
and upright act flowing from the depths of his formidable and resolute spine;
an exception and a rarity in the present times of ‘cringing servility’. The honourable court’s judgement in the
matter constitutes a chapter in the Book. I was easily able to identify with
the officer’s conclusions, in most matters of unbecoming and reprehensible
conduct of superior officers who wield authority, only because destiny had
provided me with a life changing and elevating opportunity to dare the System,
without for once measuring the depth of the whirlpool I had plunged myself into
and stood for what I considered right and righteous in the given circumstances.
Arun’s sense of righteous anger at the failing standards of rectitude and
probity in the Army, in recent years, has urged him to write and publish
‘General Salute’, a daring, soldierly and character driven attempt to say
things as they are, even while V K Singh was in office and was play acting with
his motivated and telling articulations, about his desire to accost and punish
wrong doing in the Army. According to Arun, it was theatre at its best, indeed
an’ Oscar’ winning performance from a thespian of drama. VK Singh had mastered
the art of the impossible in his eventful years of service and literally cocked
a snook at authority, by riding on the infirmities of the human mind: working
in an autocratic and hierarchical organization, such as the Army.
Arun’s narration of his feelings and views on the
existing murky and distasteful environment obtaining in the Army, and his
daring to confront it chest on, is a prognosis for hope and good to soon
descend upon the young leadership of the Services and the Army; who are bound
to be affected by the honesty of purpose and selflessness in his writing, and
will be emboldened to bite the bullet against all and any wrong doings:
especially those of their superiors, who either shamelessly exploit and misuse
the credulity of their subordinates or else entice them with a quid pro quo,
ensuring their prosperity, any which way. This is exactly what Field Marshal
Viscount Slim had in mind when he said that “Leadership is a very personal
matter: should it be spoken about, then it must surely be from one’s own
experience or else it is rhetoric”. Arun is one of those rare examples of such
leadership, which is premised on moral courage and borrows from the nobility of
genuine soldierly virtues, than shameful and disgusting hypocrisy of double
standards in public life.
It was interesting to learn from the author of the
book ‘General Salute’ that, the veteran and inveterate soldier and officer that
Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha is, was quite upset with his effort of writing and
publishing the book, which exposes the truth that obtains in our Army. Because,
in his estimate of things, it would be derogatory to the prestige and élan of
the Army and hence was quite a fatuous and unworthy effort. But then, the
freedom to put things in their correct perspective and benefit the organization
at large is a matter of opinion, which deserves respect, either which way.
While we may be as savage as we can to accept another’s view point, but it must
not impinge upon his freedom to say so and vice versa. The book will become an
eye opener for the younger generation of officers, who have not as yet been
subverted by venality and been engulfed by the cancer of corruption, to take
hope in their prerogative to act in keeping with the dictates of their
conscience and seize the first opportunity, which comes their way to act with
courage, character and competence – the philosophy of a ‘rebel with a cause’. ‘General Salute’ should be a possession, with
the young and courageous officer’s of our glorious and professional Army, which
will inspire them to act with righteous indignation and a show of spine in the
most adverse of circumstances and situations demanding moral courage; where
victory is just waiting for them around the corner and may slip from their
grasp should they succumb to any modicum of analysis, which will result in a
paralysis to act. It may as well become a ‘Bible of Courage’, quite akin and
analogous to the ‘Celestial Song”, which spurred a warrior prince to act
against evil and wrong, some five thousand years ago. I drew courage from my
own teachings and beliefs during my service career and defied the System to
punish TRUTH, even when the Organization closed its ranks upon me: only because
I was sustained in my fight against that,which is not right and honourable for
a gentleman and an officer.
The choice for the young and inquiring leadership
of the Army is to make a choice between reading ‘General Salute’ or else what
is a biopic written by one ex Chief, which does not inspire me. Because, I have
seen his conduct from close quarters, while he was in chair – quite mediocre,
vacuous and flamboyant, and nothing more than ordinary to elicit any kind of
admiration for him, or else his contribution to the Army . Happy Reading and
become the game changer of the future, should you not want to wallow in self
pity for not acting when the time was appropriate and conducive, and continue
to show Dutch courage in the only moral preserve of the Forces – the ubiquitous
BAR in the officer’s mess.
Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal
+919410900051.
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