** "A Journey can start anytime in life," -- remarked a serving army commander in early 2024.
His remarks were linked to Time space and elements of nation building.
Of course, a country lives in people's hearts and also a bit in hand holding and this is what is happening these days.
The success of Operation Sindoor speaks a lot how Indian soldiers, officers from different corners of the vast nation have put up a grand show in well synchronized form with arms, weapons and missiles.
In political journalism spokespersons emerge as "friends" of journalists.
"We know each other too well," veteran Congress spokesman V N Gadgil used to say.
Jaipal Reddy not only excelled as a spokesman for Janata Dal during the turbulent days of 1990s; he later joined Congress and yet again came out with flying colours.
His best one-liner - according to me - has been : "After excelling in journalism Mr Arun Shourie is now excelling in fiction writing". This was after Shourie had claimed that the then PM V P Singh had told Sadhus "Each one of us taking one brick away will ensure that the Babri Masjid is no where".
Of course Late V P Singh denied having said anything such and hence came Jaipal's remarks.
J P Mathur of BJP was so much friendly and 'confidant' of journalists that scribes would buy 'veg cake' and go to Mathur's house on his birthday and celebrate the occasion.
There have been many others.
Late Pramod Mahajan, Late Sushma Swaraj were 'talent discovered' by L K Advani. Arun Jaitley did a good job during Kargil conflict briefing and was rewarded by making him MoS Information and Broadcasting,
As I&B Minister - on 'payments' issues for Prasar Bharti he had said: "There is a saying in management schools .... if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys".
Journalists in general loved that.
During 'Operation Sindoor' military briefing; the responsibilities fell on three Director Generals of Military Operations.
Air Marshal AK Bharti, Director General Air Operations, did that for the Air Force.
Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, DGMO, did that for army and for naval part of the briefing; it was for Vice Admiral AN Pramod.
The Director Generals are the senior officials of the armed forces responsible for overseeing all operations in India and along its borders.
There is nothing about media and that of TV and social media era. But all three came out clear cut winners as did the nation while browbeating the enemy in Pakistan as also in PoK.
Lt. General Rajiv Ghai assumed the position of DGMO on October 25, 2024.
He was earlier the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GoC) of the Chinnar Corps.
General Ghai also scored brownie points but by doing so he showed so well his sense of timing, his sense of humour and the manner to give the knock-out bunch.
Ghai's reference to legendary Australian cricket stars Jeff Thomson and Dennies Lelie will be remembered for long particularly for choosing on the day batting sensation Virat Kohli (also Anoushka Sharma's husband) announced his retirement.
DGMO Lt General Rajiv Ghai told a press conference:
"I was watching Virat Kohli taking retirement from Test cricket. Like many Indians, he is my favorite cricketer. Back in the 70s, during the famous Ashes series between Australia and England, two of Australia’s legendary fast bowlers — Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee — wreaked havoc on the English batting line-up.
Their dominance was so overwhelming that the Australians came up with a saying:
"From ashes to ashes and from dust to dust, if Thommo don't get you, then Lillee surely must. If you look closely at the layers, you’ll understand what I mean — even if you manage to get through all of them, one layer of this grid system is bound to catch you."
The cricket metaphor was uniquely appropriate because for many in 1980s and 1990s - 'real' India-Pakistan rivalry was with the 'gentleman's game'.
"Today's briefing is devastating," one serving army office sent me a message while the briefing was still on.
He also added, and rightly so - "That sense of wit and delivery convinced me that our men and officers have given the death knell blow to the enemy".
Lt. Gen Rajiv Ghai also told journalists that the Chief of Army Staff has granted full authority to the Indian Army to counter act any further misadventure from Pakistan
"....disappointingly, expectedly it took only a couple of hours for Pakistan Army to violate these arrangements by cross border and across Line of Control firing followed by drone intrusions through last night and in the early hours of today (May 10-11). These violations were responded to robustly...
We have earlier today sent another hotline message to my counterpart highlighting these violations of the understanding between the DGMOs on 10th of May and our firm and clear intent to respond to these fiercely if repeated tonight, subsequently or later...
The Chief of Army Staff has granted full authority to our army commander for counteraction in case of any violation by Pakistan." he said.
Director General of Operations at the Indian Air Force, Air Marshal AK Bharti was commissioned in the Flying Branch in June 1987. He assumed the position of D G Air Operations in October 2024. He informed scribes that Operation Sindoor had the desired effect on enemy targets and it was not the forces job to count body bags.
"Whatever methods and whatever means we have chosen; it had the desired effects on the enemy targets. How many casualties? How many injuries? Our aim was not to inflict casualties, but in case there have been, it is for them to count. Our job is to hit the target, not to count the body bags," he said.
On being asked about the message being conveyed by using Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's poem in the video presentation, Air Marshal AK Bharti says,
"...'विनय ना मानत जलध जड़ गए तीन दिन बीति। बोले राम सकोप तब भय बिनु होय ना प्रीति'.."
"...The ocean is not accepting humility (विनय), three days have passed. Ram said in anger, 'There is no love without fear.'"
(Four years back PM Narendra Modi had said quote from Ram Charit Manas at a public function)
Air Marshal Bharti did another 'sweet and smart' tongue-in-cheek remark that would make his children and grand children feel proud and also laugh around.
"In the aftermath of the cowardly attacks on innocent tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani sponsored terrorists on 22nd April, the Indian Navy's Carrier battle group, surface forces, submarines and aviation assets were immediately deployed at sea with full combat readiness...
We tested and refined tactics and procedures at sea during multiple weapon firings in the Arabian Sea within 96 hours of the terrorist attack...Our forces remained forward deployed in the Northern Arabian Sea in a decisive and deterrent posture with full readiness and capacity to strike select targets at sea and on land, including Karachi, at a time of our choosing.
The forward deployment of the Indian Navy compelled Pakistani naval and air units to be in a defensive posture, mostly inside harbours or very close to the coast, which we monitored continuously....
Our response has been measured, proportionate, non-escalatory and responsible from day one...As we speak, the Indian Navy remains deployed at sea in a credible deterrent posture to respond decisively to any inimical action by Pakistan, " he said.
ends
No comments:
Post a Comment