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New Delhi: Perhaps the
most controversial tenure of any Indian Army chief ends Thursday
when Gen V.K. Singh hangs up his boots after over 41 years of
service. Much of his 26 months at the helm of a 1.13 million
strong army were spent in publicly battling the civilian
establishment and his own military rivals.
But the end of his term marks the beginning of a long path towards
recovery from the mess that the institution called the Integrated
Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army) finds itself in.
What began as a promising tenure on April Fools' Day in 2010 with
V.K. Singh making the right noises about "improving the internal
health" of the army has now turned into unpleasant chapter that
may be difficult to forget given the nature of the controversies
-- from a seemingly innocuous age row to the critical issue of
defence preparedness.
"Let him retire peacefully," is what Defence Minister A.K. Antony
is believed to have told some defence ministry officials, upset
over the latest controversy following V.K. Singh's television
interviews on his last weekend in office.
V.K. Singh, otherwise a very popular man in the forces who commend
him for his uprightness, had blamed some sections of the defence
ministry for planting stories in the media to fix him.
The wait for his retirement is expected to be over on May 31
forenoon, when V.K. Singh hands over the reins of the world's
second largest standing army after China to Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh,
named successor in March this year.
V.K. Singh's age row - whether he was born on May 10 in 1950 or
1951 - should have been a routine matter of little interest to
anybody outside the establishment. But the issue went up all the
way to the Supreme Court, which put an end to the row by virtually
upholding the defence ministry decision on 1950.
Then came the bombshell of an allegation about retired lieutenant
general Tejinder Singh offering a bribe of Rs.14 crore (RS 140
milllion) to clear an order for what the army chief called
"substandard" Tatra military trucks.
The bribery storm, first reported in a newspaper, came when the
budget session of parliament was in progress. And the nation saw
an emotional Antony defending himself -- he had been informed by
the army chief in 2010 about the offer -- forcing him to order a
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
Tejinder Singh has sued V.K. Singh and his aides from the army
headquarters for defamation over a press release that named him.
Muddying the waters further, there was another shocker of a report
that V.K. Singh had authorised the illegal bugging of Antony's
office and the country's top leadership at the peak of his age
row. Again, there was vehement denial from the defence ministry.
Like the proverbial Pandora's box, which unearthed one controversy
after another, a letter written by V.K. Singh to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on gaps in defence preparedness, a top secret
document, was leaked to the media. There were insinuations that
the matter got into the public domain through the army chief.
An Intelligence Bureau probe is still in progress to identify who
leaked that letter, labelled high treason by both the army chief
and the defence minister.
In his latest move, V.K. Singh has issued a show cause notice to 3
Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag, in line after Bikram
Singh to become army chief, for a botched up intelligence
operation in Jorhat, Assam.
Suhag, who has now been placed under a discipline and vigilance
ban, is facing the prospect of not being promoted as army
commander, a prerequisite for him to become army chief in 2014, if
the defence ministry accepts the army chief's decision.
If not the army chief, his supporters from the ex-servicemen
community and others have shown signs of both politicising and
communalising the whole age row. Some MPs from the Rajput
community have approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his
behalf only to be snubbed.
Team Anna too has jumped on to the bandwagon, openly inviting V.K.
Singh to join them after retirement.
But V.K. Singh has conveniently left the question about his future
open-ended, claiming he has not had time to think about it. All he
has in mind, he said, is completing his doctorate from the
University of Madras.
But few are willing to take that at face value.
(N C Bipindra
can be contacted at nc.bipindra@ians.in)
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