Step back
The Indian Express :
The Indian Express :
Wed Jan 18 2012, 03:26 hrs
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Speculation has long been rife about the army chief, General V.K. Singh, petitioning the Supreme Court to pronounce on his correct year of birth. Nonetheless, his decision to legally challenge the defence ministry on the subject still comes as a surprise. By moving the court, he has put the office of army chief in potential confrontation with the civilian government. This is unprecedented, and it could not just damage in the long term the interface between the armed forces and the government; but it could also divide loyalties in the army itself along very personalised axes. General Singh is obviously conscious of these implications, as he has constantly sought to dispel the notion that his objective is to extend his tenure. He has instead posed the issue as one of individual honour. If that is the case, General Singh, who has been eloquent in explaining his personal stake in the issue, must do the soldierly act and engage with concerns being voiced on his course of action. He owes it to the institution he has served so long and well, and he owes it to the country in whose defence he has dedicated his career.
The exercise would — and should — alert him to the danger of forcing a confrontation far out of proportion to his grievance, valid or not. To know and to have accepted the truth about as biographical a detail as one’s birth is understandably human. The Centre, particularly the defence ministry, has for too long been tone-deaf to the nuance in General Singh’s plea that the issue be settled, keeping his honour and credibility intact, without disturbing organisational processes (essentially, the line of succession that would tumble into place, upon his retirement this summer). For too many years, most bruisingly since 2006 when the defence ministry flagged off the contradictory dates of birth in his dossier (May 10, 1950 and May 10, 1951), the issue has been allowed to linger. And ever since he became army chief and an RTI on his date of birth brought the issue into the public domain, the air has thickened with many conspiracy theories about pre-determined chains of succession, allegations that could have been neatly blown away by acceding to General Singh’s quest for a negotiated settlement that his year of birth be determined in a fair manner, while he retired without unsettling the line of succession.
No army, no government can be unmindful of the dangers inherent in the way this is playing out. Indeed this confrontation is avoidable. Even at this advanced stage, those who matter in the UPA government and General Singh himself should know the contours of a solution that will yield the greatest common good.
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Speculation has long been rife about the army chief, General V.K. Singh, petitioning the Supreme Court to pronounce on his correct year of birth. Nonetheless, his decision to legally challenge the defence ministry on the subject still comes as a surprise. By moving the court, he has put the office of army chief in potential confrontation with the civilian government. This is unprecedented, and it could not just damage in the long term the interface between the armed forces and the government; but it could also divide loyalties in the army itself along very personalised axes. General Singh is obviously conscious of these implications, as he has constantly sought to dispel the notion that his objective is to extend his tenure. He has instead posed the issue as one of individual honour. If that is the case, General Singh, who has been eloquent in explaining his personal stake in the issue, must do the soldierly act and engage with concerns being voiced on his course of action. He owes it to the institution he has served so long and well, and he owes it to the country in whose defence he has dedicated his career.
The exercise would — and should — alert him to the danger of forcing a confrontation far out of proportion to his grievance, valid or not. To know and to have accepted the truth about as biographical a detail as one’s birth is understandably human. The Centre, particularly the defence ministry, has for too long been tone-deaf to the nuance in General Singh’s plea that the issue be settled, keeping his honour and credibility intact, without disturbing organisational processes (essentially, the line of succession that would tumble into place, upon his retirement this summer). For too many years, most bruisingly since 2006 when the defence ministry flagged off the contradictory dates of birth in his dossier (May 10, 1950 and May 10, 1951), the issue has been allowed to linger. And ever since he became army chief and an RTI on his date of birth brought the issue into the public domain, the air has thickened with many conspiracy theories about pre-determined chains of succession, allegations that could have been neatly blown away by acceding to General Singh’s quest for a negotiated settlement that his year of birth be determined in a fair manner, while he retired without unsettling the line of succession.
No army, no government can be unmindful of the dangers inherent in the way this is playing out. Indeed this confrontation is avoidable. Even at this advanced stage, those who matter in the UPA government and General Singh himself should know the contours of a solution that will yield the greatest common good.
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