Once a beacon of integrity, India's military is in disarray
Indians wearied by a litany of corruption scandals and failures of government in recent years have been able to take comfort in the fact that one national institution – the armed forces – remained unbesmirched, its reputation for efficiency and integrity intact.
No longer. Leaked secret memos, million-dollar bribe allegations, a “near-coup experience” and a bizarre dispute over the army chief’s birthday have badly tarnished the image of the 1.3 million-member fighting force that controls nuclear weapons in a volatile region.
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The pattern is such that the general’s personal motivations have emerged as the leading theory to explain all of the recent developments. Gen. Singh is a distinguished veteran of India’s 1971 war with Pakistan and was a stalwart but unremarkable figure until recently. But to many observers, it seems that having won the top job, he is loathe to leave it.
“He’s lost the plot in the last year,” said Maj.-Gen. Mehta. “This is the last ditch effort of a man who is saying ‘I haven’t got what I wanted’ – the act of a man in despair, saying ‘if I’m going down why don’t I take a few others down with me.’”
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