SHAMEFUL AND UNBECOMING CONDUCT

SHAMEFUL AND UNBECOMING CONDUCT

"If you have to die, do so around Delhi or Mumbai" 

(Excerpts taken from article written by Krishna Prasad, former editor, Vijay Times and one of India's finest young journalists)

The passing away of the only Indian to be appointed Field Marshal when in active service has been remarkable for the warmth of the ordinary men and women, who queued up to say meebeenamet to the adorable dikra who put his life on the line for them...... 

Born in 1914 in Amritsar, he joined the Indian Military Academy in 1933 and was commissioned into the Army in 1934. During the Burma campaign in the Second World War, he was hit in his stomach by machine-gun fire. Spotting the wounded Sam and recognising his courage in the line of fire, Maj. Gen. David Tennent "Punch" Cowan took off his Military Cross ribbon and pinned it on his chest, saying: "A dead person cannot be awarded a Military Cross."


His professionalism and values earned him deep regard not only from India but even from Pakistan. Shortly after his retirement, he was invited to Pakistan. In Lahore, where he had grown up, as he was departing after being hosted by the governor of Punjab province, one of his employees placed his turban at Manekshaw's feet. In chaste Punjabi, when Sam told him "...this turban should be on your head, not at my feet...", the man emotionally replied that it was there to thank him for the well-being of five of his sons serving in the Pakistan Army and all being held as prisoners of war in India, in humane conditions with prisoners' pay, beds to sleep on, even when Indian Army personnel were facing a shortage of the same, and the provision to write letters home, which he was receiving from all of them. His parting words, much to the embarrassment of the governor and officials were: "...we will never again say that Indians are bad...."

It has also been remarkable for the complete lack of grace and gratitude, civility and courtesy, decency and decorum on the part of the bold-faced names rapaciously grazing the lawns of power in Delhi and elsewhere, for the brain behind India's only decisive military victory. 

Sam, the Bahadur, had been unwell for a while now. From about 1000 hours on June 26, reports of his being "critically ill" had appeared in the media. Yet, when the "expected tocsin" sounded at 0030 hours till the guns were fired in salute around 1500 hours on June 27, "civil society" chose to show its incivility.........

Pratibha Patil: the commander-in- chief of the armed forces with all the time in the world: Absent
Hamid Ansari: Vice-president releasing books and writing reviews of books by fellow-travellers: Absent
Manmohan Singh: the prime minister who could do with a bit of the field marshal's charisma and heroism: Absent
Sonia Gandhi: daughter-in- law of the woman the field marshal called "sweetie": Absent
L K Advani: prime minister in waiting of the party which would like to do to Pakistan what Manekshaw did: Absent
M Karunanidhi and Surjit Singh Barnala: chief minister and governor of the state which Manekshaw had made his home for 35 years: Absent 

There were no wreaths placed on Field Marshal Manekshaw's bier, on President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's behalf.

Politicians may have their reasons. They always do. Maybe, there are issues like protocol. Maybe, this is one way in which 'civil India' shows the armed forces its place. Maybe, this is why we are not as militaristic as Pakistan. Maybe, the knees are just too old to climb the hills.
But what about the armed forces itself?

A K Antony: the defence minister 'now behaving like the chairman of the confederation of the armed forces' trade unions: absent 'due to prior political engagements' .
The chief of army staff: absent (away in Russia )
The chief of navy staff: absent
The chief of air staff: absent
The fact that the defence minister was represented by his deputy Pallam Raju, the fact that the navy and air staff sent two-star general rank officers, shows that however high or mighty, however rich or powerful, civilian or military, if you should die as you must, you should do so somewhere in the vicinity of New Delhi -- or Bombay.
Or else, they must have some use for you. Or else, too bad. 

As  Field Marshal rightly surmised once: "I wonder whether those of our political masters who have been put in charge of the defence of the country can distinguish a mortar from a motor; a gun from a howitzer; a guerrilla from a gorilla -- although a great many of them in the past have resembled the latter."

The contrast couldn't be starker:

When Amitabh Bachchan was ill after being socked in the stomach during the shooting of Coolie, Indira Gandhi flew down to Bombay to show her concern.
When Dhirubhai Ambani died, L K Advani cut short his Gujarat tour to pay his respects to an 'embodiment of initiative, enterprise and determination' .
When Pramod Mahajan was shot dead by his brother, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekawat had the time to attend the funeral. 

Our VIPs and VVIPs have time for dead and dying celebrities, charlatans, fixers. Not for a field marshal? 

In his biography, K M Cariappa, the only other field marshal India has had (and who too died at age 94), writes of his father's cremation in May 1993: 

"Honouring him in death as they did in life were Field Marshal Manekshaw, the three service chiefs all of whom belonged to the same course and at whose passing out parade from the joint services wing father had presided, the gracious chief minister M Veerappa Moily and C K Jaffer Sharief, Minister for Railways representing the President as the supreme commander of the armed forces." 

Somebody should have told the geniuses in Delhi that Sam, the Bahadur, passed away in Wellington, Ooty, not Wellington, New Zealand . The nearest civil airport is Coimbatore, just 80 km away. 

If this is how we say goodbye to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, any wonder why Rang de Basanti could successfully tap into the angst of an entire generation?

Tags: manekshaw

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