Whiplash

The General, calm and composed gives two interviews – one to an
obscure Hindi outfit and the other to leading daily – saying pretty
much the same thing leveling allegations of bribery against a former
top notch officer. The executive and media run around like headless
chickens trying to get a fix on what happened. Parliament goes into a
tailspin. The General decides to leave the capitakl to visit
formations in south west sector and then J & K.

So, you are lulled into believing that at least till Friday evening,
there will be peace and quiet. Phew, you wipe your brow and have a
quiet drink. The General may have gone, but he has lobbed yet another
incendiary device. In yet another leak…yes we leak like a sieve…a
letter written to the PM dated March 12 exposes the inadequacies in
the armed forces preparedness. From air defence to tanks to elite
forces to ammo, everything is a no can do.

Complete consternation all around. Throw in the CBI which gets a note
from the Government with a cutting of the General’s interview to the
English daily, asking for the matter to be probed. Consternation now
equals unholy mess with the General running the executive ragged. Why
is the General sullying the Army’s credo but taking on the executive
in this manner? Smoke and mirrors. Oh yes, but increasingly double
jeopardy at work. It doesn’t behove the General to bring this battle
over age, dignity, prestige and honour into the public domain. It
doesn’t wash well that the most credible institution in the country
silently backs the General in this ugly joust with the executive.

As an aside, why did the PMO keep quiet about this letter from the
General for close to a fortnight? And incidentally what was the
General doing about these failings in the defence arsenal for the last
two years that he woke up to the fact at the fag end of his tenure?
Sad denouement of the times that we live in…