India's military (catch all)

[Ray]

The real story starts with two previous Chiefs of Army Staff attempting to clear the line of succession. In 2006, VK Singh was the Chief of Staff (COS) of a Corps in Northern Command and was ready to take over the command of Ambala based II Corps. Then COAS General Jogindar Jaswant Singh (9 Marhatta Light Infantry) insisted that V K Singh accept 1950 as his year of birth. The reason was that JJ Singh wanted a shortened tenure of VK Singh ending in 2012 thus ensuring elevation of a fellow Sikh Lieutenant General Bikram Singh as next COAS.

If this is true, it is a sad commentary.

It is possible that such a thing may have occurred. JJ Singh has always been a bit of dodgy character.

JJ Singh has been rewarded with a Governorship by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

JJ is such a 'effective' chap that he did not even know, inspite of being a Governor, if the State's Chief Minister's (CM) helicopter had crashed or not! His waffling embarrassed the Govt when it was realised that not only the helicopter had crashed but also that the CM had died in that crash!

[omarali50]

addendum now added to our site: http://www.brownpundits.com/update-i...-chief-affair/

[omarali50]

The Indian Express has added some more farcical elements.

http://www.brownpundits.com/the-indi...t-in-the-news/

[Ray]

It has been debunked as sensationalism.

During annual inspection, mobilisation is checked and that is what happened.

If the Army had any ideas out of the loop, there was two brigades in Delhi, the 26,000 troops for the Republic Day Parade with every single equipment, and one Division just one hour or less from Delhi.

It is the desire of the arms lobby to discredit the Chief and the Army since he has gone hard on the nexus.

May read:



http://www.sunday-guardian.com/inves...fanEEy.twitter

The Indian Army is too wedded to the concept of Democracy to replicate neighbours and then be blamed for ruining the country!

[omarali50]

I am not worried about the Indian army doing a coup. I am worried about what this sad business tells us about the Indian ruling elite. If they go down, we probably go down with them..see my comments in the link above.

[Ray]

It is indeed sad the way the Indian Govt is meandering like a rudderless boat.

However, the solid democratic foundations will carry it through as it has always done in every crisis!

We have survived Nehru and 1962. A near similar thing happened with Gen Thimayya.

I have faith in the Indian democratic ideals and so nothing worries me!

[davidbfpo]

A BBC commentary by an Indian defence analyst which makes interesting reading and comes with some surprises, notably this:

The influential Indian Express newspaper on Wednesday reported that in mid-January two army units, including a Special Forces battalion, had marched on New Delhi without telling the proper authorities. For 18 hours it reportedly panicked the government...Gen Singh rejected the news report as an "absolutely stupid" reaction to a regular manoeuvre - for which no prior intimation to the federal authorities was necessary - to test the readiness of key units to mobilise swiftly for emergency deployment in foggy conditions, usually prevalent in northern India during winter.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17635618