History is also linked to human faith. Some of it we trust even without having told to do so. For others, there is a phrase in English -- you must take things with a pinch of salt.
Remember both the elements are important - the salt and the pinch.
There are some who might also believe that History is often shaped by debris. Forget thy 'substance'.
Whenever and wherever glass ceilings are shattered; there is some noise in the air and importantly .... there will be debris on the floor,. It is for us - the onlookers and future history writers to pick up things !
Lt. Gen. Hoon's book 'Unmasking Secrets of Turbulence : Midnight Freedom to a Nuclear Nuclear Dawn' throws light on behind-the-scene political and military controversies that were raging in late eighties.
The book was released in 1998 a few weeks after Kargil Conflict.
According to the book, former President Late Giani Zail Singh, was wary of Army as he seriously contemplated moves to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"President of India (Zall Singh) felt if he was to dismiss the Prime Minister (Rajiv Gandhi), Gen. K.
Sundarji could have masterminded an event where the armed forces of India could be involved," wrote Lt. Gen. Prem Nath Hoon (Retd).
Hoon was a former GOC In-charge of Western Command.
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| Gen Sundarji |
Lt. Gen Hoon claimed a veteran Congressman and a one-time close aide of the Gandhi family, V C Shukla, who was involved in moves to unseat Rajiv Gandhi, had dashed to the Western Army headquarters to gauge the "Army's attitude" if Zail Singh dismissed Rajiv Gandhi.
"Shukla (then a Cabinet minister) came to Chandimandir, the (Western) Command headquarters ... and said he wanted to find out what the Army's attitude would be if such a dismissal takes place and the role the Army will
play if such a situation were to develop," he wrote.
The book says while the dismissal never took place, two things struck Hoon.
"One that when Giani Zail Singh was asked why he chose not to dismiss Rajiv Gandhi, he stated that if he chose successor, he might turn out to be a weak person, which could threaten the transition of power from a democratically elected government to the Army," Lt. Gen Hoon noted.
Maintaining, that while he wondered about soul Army chief's attitude to the moves, Lt. Gen. Hoon further wrote -
-- "it was amazing" when he received a letter from the Army headquarters stating that three crack para commando battalions, one each from Western, Eastern and Southern Commands be taken away and placed directly under the then vice chief of Army Lt Gen S F Rodridgues -- "a close confidant of Sundarji".
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| George Fernandes |
Lt Gen Hoon claimed he was so much perturbed by development that he even "advised" Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to remove Lt. Gen Rodrigues as vice-chief to a command where he "would not have troops or a say."
Substantiating his apprehensions. Lt. Gen Hoon argued that Gen Rodrigues, later as chief of the Army, had himself given vent to these fears by stating in a newspaper interview that "good governance is our business as
well".
Wondering what really Gen. Rodrigues meant by those words, the
former director general general of of military operations (DGMO) asked - "Was he (Rodrigues the then Army chief) challenging the government."
Lt Gen. Hoon also claimed that even George Fernandes (who was Defence Minister in 1998), and then an MP, shared such apprehensions when he said that the Army and the General is taking responsibility of governance of the country.
"Therefore, we urge that the General relieved of his duties. It is left to the reader to assess Rodrigue's mind from the very beginning in cohort with Sundarji".
Lt Gen. Hoon also blamed the former chief of the Army for what he called a flawed "Operation Bluestar."
He said military operations in the Golden Temple were "ill times and ill conceived".
"The biggest mistake made by Lt Gen Sundarji and Maj Gen Brar was that they held daily media briefing and gave information about each day's fighting as if it was a war," the book said.
"To my mind, the mutiny (of Sikhs deserting Army) was due to this media briefing," said Lt. Gen. Hoon.
"Sundarji wanted to highlight the tremendous opposition they had faced and how they overcame it. He wanted to become a hero overnight."
(This story sourced on the book extract was reported by the blogger in September 1998 for Press Trust of India - PTI) and it was carried in several newspapers)
ends
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