EDITOR'S NOTE - part 2
Part 2 of this interesting piece by Gp Capt AG Bewoor should maintain the readers' interest in this subject that gives a good insight with linked controversies that were mischievously publicised by the media . Some of our past generals were targeted as potential Coup Masters to mislead the political masters and nation with false and fictitious narratives against them.
The author clears this media created fog and projects the true picture.
Editor ,MVI
What Was and Remains the Principles of Hindustan Ke Faujis?
1. The Fear of Coup Remains.
In the nearly 50 years from about mid1890s till 1947, our Armed Forces, essentially our Army; was designed and trained to do battle against those who waged war against British India. With induction of Indian officers the culture, that Military Officers do not wage war against their own country, was also ingrained. It became and remains a cardinal principle, sacrosanct, absolute and unquestioned. Two Great Wars, totalling nearly 4000 days, saw Indian military officers reach heights in discipline, courage, leadership and management of men and material. Even the saga of INA had no adverse impact on them.
They remained steadfast in their loyalty to the Indian government of the day, never showing a tilt towards governance despite the shoddy and incompetent the civilian administration and political leadership. The events of 1962 which brought ignominy to the Indian Army did not ignite a desire in the hearts of defence officers
to enter governance. The cause for the 1962 shame lay at the doorsteps of the political /administrative / intelligence pundits of India, but was dumped into the lap of the Army. Then as now words are inadequate to write about, 1965, 1971, Kargil, IPKF and our constant battles against terrorists and insurgents. The Army got its first ‘native’ chief in 1949 and instantly sneaky stories about coups were released in the corridors of South Block, North Block and Parliament. A perversion, which was widely known then and is
equally well known today, yet it persists. Perfidious irrationality at its peak is it not?
2. The Desi Army Chiefs.
Cariappa, Rajendra Sinhji and Srinagesh worked with care and diligence over 10 years building a strict culture and discipline among Army officers. The business of the Armed Forces they taught; is to defend India against aggression, to render help to civilian administration when asked for, and be available during calamities. The Army, Navy, Air Force do not exist to interfere in administering India. The administrators will do their job, we do ours. Thus from 1947 to 1957, this ideology, was drilled into the ‘Fauji afsar’, it was readily accepted and is today held fast, 77 years into freedom. Readers should know that this rule is also taught in letter and spirit in military academies. India’s military leadership taught upright loyal fundamentals even to their potential officers. The Armed Forces knew their responsibilities, and also what they were never to do. A truth very well known to netas and babus. Yet these very persons doubt their own Army, Navy, Air Force? Rarely have a nation’s Armed Forces been entrusted with so much, yet distrusted so consistently. Should it not be remedied?
The Ambience at That Time
10.Stability Around India. At partition, what was happening outside India? China was in a civil war; Burma & Sri Lanka became
independent in 1948. Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Afghanistan were monarchies. Maldives was under Britain and Iran was a pro-West monarchy. Malaya and Thailand were independent with their pro- British governments. So all around India there was political stability with no nation succumbing to military coups. To then
mislead Indian netas about coups was downright unethical of the civil servants of India. And this fallacious story is kept alive? Such scandalous conduct must be challenged for probity by all Indians.
It thus begs the question; from where did our babus, netas, spy masters and policemen get this fear about the Indian Army wanting to execute a coup? And that too when British officers were chiefs of the Armed Forces? Incredulous, unbelievable,
inconceivable; yet the babus managed to sell this idea then, they peddle it today, and behold, our netas accept it? Breathtaking.
3.Loyal Armed Forces.
Indian officers who took command of Brigades / Divisions / IAF Stations / Ships from 1947 till 1960 were young with short tenures in lower ranks before independence. All of them had come out of a War to lead the Armed Forces of a new
nation. Though insulated from the freedom struggle, their silent moral support for freedom was known to the political and civilian leadership. Not even once were India Armed Forces used against
freedom activism, because the British knew that Indian officers would resist such action. Yet when these very officers were
launched into battle against Pakistan in J&K, Hyderabad and Goa; their impeccable conduct on and off the battlefield was noted, and became an object lesson on probity and remains one even in the second decade of the 21st century. This unholy nexus against the
Faujis of India; fomented by netas, babus and jasoos thrives, and is the root cause for mischief in the media about a military coup.
Loathsome is it not? Engineering a military coup in India is well- nigh impossible; given the proclivity of the fauji afsar to keep far
away from netagiri, which as he knows cannot distance itself from gundagiri and bhrashtachaar. This then was the environment in the late 50s and early 60s when the bogey of a coup got an impetus. The answer that emerged then, we are told by many august politico- strategic analysts and historians, was to raise Para-Military Police Forces under Home Ministry as the counterpoise to a coup. What an imbecilic idea of the 1960s.
4.Fanning Flames of a Coup.
The very first time that a coup took place in our neighbourhood was in October 1958 when Ayub Khan took over Pakistan. In India Thimayya had become COAS in May
1957 and dubbed ‘an extremely popular person’ by the media.
How Thimayya had become extremely popular was never explained. With Ayub’s coup the message sent out by our intelligence babus was, if the Pakistani part of the British Indian Army has done a coup in Rawalpindi, what prevents the Indian
part from doing that in New Delhi? Political conditions and cultural preference for precipitate action, was flourishing in Pakistan from1947. With Jinnah gone in September 1948, a leadership struggle erupted and as many as seven prime ministers served Pakistan from 1947 till Ayub took over 1958. In India, an uninterrupted Nehru ruled from 1947 till1964, with regular National and State elections, the Armed Forces busy on the borders, training hard to be a reckonable force. Why on Earth should the Army of independent India mimic actions across the Radcliff Line? This question has never been answered any time anywhere. Such
a question could have been asked after the 1962 defeat. Initially the nation felt that the Army had run away from battle. When the truth became public, the anger shifted to the politicians and bureaucrats. Many citizens wished that the Army takes over. But the ‘extremely popular’ Thimayya had already retired in May 1961 and went to Cyprus in May 1964, just about the time Chacha Nehru passed away. The COAS now was Muchhu Choudhuri, not
an ‘extremely popular’ person.
The ambience in India was one for reconciliation, accepting our failures and recharging the Indian Armed Forces with pride and weaponry for the future. The
Colonels / Brigadiers / Generals had no time to waste in governing the country. Not one senior military officer, serving or retired, was heard in any forum saying that the time has come for the military to take over India. Yet this fraudulent story was kept alive; and its flames are fanned with regularity even today. It was during Nehru’s funeral that Choudhuri moved some troops into Delhi for crowd control, exactly as had been done during Mahatma’s funeral. This was branded as irrevocable evidence of the Army preparing a coup after Nehru’s death and it became germane with the question, after Nehru who? Do note that in the late 50s and 60s when this falsehood was running loose, there was no Sardar Patel or Baldev Singh to kill these fears. The power resided in Krishna Menon and BN Malik the Director of Intelligence Bureau and a host of ex- ICS officers. It is true that during British rule, India’s military officers considered themselves better endowed
than the civil service and police cadres. The chasm between the two groups, military and non-military, existed when independence dawned, inherited from the British, sadly it remains so today but to
a much lesser extent. It needs to be repaired by both groups, and till that happens, the false fear of a military coup will remain. What Kind of Military Officers Do Coups?
5.Our Para-Military and Police Forces.
Unknown to most readers, the CRPF was created way back in 1939 when a military coup was out of question. Today the CRPF is the backbone of internal security, led by some of the finest, bravest and accomplished men and women of India. Battalions of the CRPF are scattered across India to be deployed for security duties wherever their presence becomes critical. State Police and their Armed cadres work under State governments. The Sino-Indian
border war saw the creation of the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) in October 1962 which had nothing to do with a military coup. ITBP would be deployed, as the name suggests, along the border with Tibet. The Border Security Force (BSF), was created on 01 December 1965, in the aftermath of the war with Pakistan with the clear mandate to secure the Borders and be the eyes and ears of India. The BSF was for years staffed by ex-army officers and it always operates fully integrated with army units along the International Border and Line of Control with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Astounding as it may be, Gen Muchhu Choudhuri was one of the founding fathers of BSF along with its first Director General Rustomjee. The reader can visualise that these three Police Forces, CRPF, ITBP and BSF were mandated with specific tasks indesignated areas of India. The CRPF had a pan-India role and their only source of swift mobility was by IAF aircraft. It was so then, it is so today. The author has flown many flights in AN-12s and IL-76s ferrying CRPF across India. The Force is seldom at home earning the takia kalam, Chalte Raho Pyaree Force CRPF. Do therefore appreciate that if a sizable element of any of these Police Forces were to be deployed swiftly to counter a military coup, in say; Mumbai, Chennai, Guwahati, Jamnagar, Jammu, Delhi, Nagpur, Vijaywada, Cuttack, Agartala or Chandigarh , the sole method would be by IAF aircraft. But if the IAF is a part of the coup, how will CRPF be deployed? On the other hand, the Indian Army since 1947 is deployed in cantonments near all major cities across the length and breadth of India. IAF flying stations abound from West to East across Punjab, UP, Bihar, Bengal, Assam and in every State South of the Vindhyas. It thus becomes very clear that having para-military police forces under Ministry of Home Affairs; as a counterbalance against a military coup, has no credence either in the dates of their creation; or in their ability to deploy swiftly, without logistic support from the Armed Forces. The story of
creating para-military police forces to
defeat an attempted coup by the army, reads like a fairy tale. The rationalisation of why this argument continues to be propagated is because, it has never been rebutted strongly enough across multiple forums. This is a good start.
6.Leaders of Military Coups.
A quick look at some military coups gives a good idea what kind of faujis engineer coup d’états. The first truth is that the coup leadership plans to be in power for at least 15 to 20 years, otherwise it is a wasteful enterprise; and second, much planning and secret parleys happen before the coup. Ayub was 51 yrs old in 1958 hoping to be in power till at least1970. Nasser was 44 yrs old when he ousted King Farouk in Egypt. Kasim was 44 yrs when he dethroned King Faisal in Baghdad. Gaddafi was 27 yrs old when he overthrew King Idris of Libya and ruled for 42 yrs. Ne Win was 51 yrs when he threw out U Nu in Burma. Papadopoulos of Greece was 46 yrs old when he masterminded a coup. Our Indian colonels / brigadiers / generals who were supposedly planning a coup, would be those who were in the range of 40 yrs to 50 yrs in the mid 1950s. Most if not all would have come back from Burma, Italy, Middle East, or Germany after WW II. Many of them decorated, all hardened loyal soldiers emotionally attached to their paltan, their Army and the new born nation. Most with wives and children looking forward to an honourable and satisfying career in their beloved Service and a new India. Each one of them unconcerned with the faith of his brother officers or his troops, for that was irrelevant. But most importantly, each one having implicit faith in the political leaders of India who they had seen fighting for freedom. These officers had witnessed terrible devastation, seen battlefield deaths by the hundreds, experienced diseases and deprivation and tasted both defeat and victory. The last thing they wanted was more of the same. The war was over it had been fought for peace, prosperity and honour. That is all the Fauji afsar and his family wanted.
7.The Coup Has Not Happened?
The British left, and into the hands and upon the shoulders of these officers were thrust enormous responsibilities, and they owed it to themselves and their families to succeed. This body of battle-hardened officers from the army, navy, air force was least interested in coups and political intrigue. This truth, the politico-bureaucratic combine knew, but it was deliberately discounted and they propagated fears of a military coup. Looking back with the benefit of 70 years hindsight and how the Armed Forces have conducted themselves in these seven decades; should at least now elicit acceptance from civil servants and their political masters that they have misjudged their own military. Indeed all Indians need to ponder this question.
The men who supposedly wanted to do a coup were now in command of battleships, Air Force bases, Divisions & Brigades with enormous weaponry and manpower under their command, ideally poised to stage that putsch which never happened. Why did it not happen in the 50s and 60s? Certainly not because of the CRPF. The coup could not have happened, and will never occur, not even by mistake. The true reason is that the mindset of the Officers of Hindustan Ki Fauj, does not move in that direction. They are strictly prohibited by their military culture, upbringing, teachings and environment to indulge in such unforgivable acts. Their parents, teachers, siblings, friends, elders, community and indeed their women folk, will not accept such misconduct. Violation will attract severe retribution from family, friends, relatives and ‘biradari’. Readers, especially non-military, must understand that, irrespective of the God that they pray to, this philosophy governs the behaviour and demeanour of Indian Armed Forces personnel. That is the exclusive reason why the coup cannot and will not happen. On the other hand, observe how such dastardly accusations are leaked at convenient intervals to the news hungry media; who in turn create false scenarios as they did about Gen VK Singh. Ironic is it not when viewed against what the military officers have done to defend and sustain India in these 77 years? We need to also look at what is the binding thread among coup conspirators anywhere, and how would the Desi Faujis do a coup? Read it is in Part 3, with the conclusion.
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