PART 3
Review and Revise the Thought Process
10.There Has not Been a Rebuttal.
Starting from J&K, Junagadh, Hyderabad, Goa, 1962, 1965, 1971, Kargil, confrontations with China, insurgencies in North -East, terrorism in J&K; Indian Armed Forces officers and their men have defended the security and maintained the integrity of India. The para-military policemen have fought shoulder to shoulder with the Army with exemplary courage and fortitude. There cannot be one man or woman in these three Police Forces who suspect even for a moment, that the Indian Armed Forces will engineer a coup. Yet the babus, intelligence wizards, political spin doctors and armchair analysts keep churning out scenarios of Coup d'état.
How dumb and dyslexic can these accusers be to repeat such unconvincing stories, which our free speech media anchors and editors present as shattering news? Readers must recall the failed revolt of the Provincial Armed Constabulary of Uttar Pradesh in early 1973. The uprising in three cities was successfully defeated by the Indian Army. The Central or State Govt did not use either of the three para-military police forces to crush the revolt. Why not? They were available were they not? What lessons emerge from this event? Yet even today, 50 years after the event, it is believed that the Central Police Forces of India are a strong determined bulwark against the Army executing a coup? The reason why it continues to echo is because Indians in general and especially those in the right places do not rubbish it. Now is as good a beginning as any other. What better medium than MVI?
11.How To Manage an Indian Coup.
For a successful coup to go through swiftly without impediment needs many things to happen. Detailed planning, uninterrupted communication between the protagonists, huge sums of money, logistics on a large scale, the disarming and arresting of „loyalists‟, integration of sympathetic bureaucrats and police officers. Coups are often preceded by selected assassinations to spread a fear psychosis. Pray which bunch of Indian Armed Forces officers of that era or today could have ordered or will order such carnage? Capturing of radio and TV channels is ineluctable. The internet and social media will have to be controlled. Road traffic, especially in big metros, will have to be contained and governed. Railways and airlines would have to be brought under the Armed Forces, the skies and airports would be closed for everyone except the Air Force. Navy would control the seas with ports coming under their control.
The magnitude and complexity of managing a coup in those days as well as today, is unimaginable and would need hundreds if not thousands of officers and soldiers to be willing participants in the coup. Most importantly, the vast majority of populace would have to be supportive. It thus defies logic that men and women who spread this canard of a military coup, believe that the Indian Armed Forces have the wherewithal and national connectivity to do this? How unintelligent can people be? Is not a rethink inescapable?
12.Commonality of Masterminds.
A repeat visit to successful coups elsewhere reveals that the masterminds were always of the same religion. Whether it was Egypt, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Burma, Indonesia, Pakistan, Greece, South American, African countries; the military leaders who succeeded in doing coups belonged to the same faith and prayed to the same God. They shared same customs, traditions, ceremonies, priests, saints, diet, temples, prophets and personal laws. Jump into the Indian scene and we have a mix of Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Parsees and many more. They have different temples, customs, priests, diets, traditions, ceremonies, saints, prophets as well as varied denominations within each faith. One group does not normally visit the other's temples, in some cases, never.
In such a distinctly diverse and dissimilar grouping, to expect them to plan a coup is unimaginable. It would fizzle out before it started. These and many more realities, there are too many to enumerate, inherently kill the possibility of even a coup being planned, let alone executed. What hurts the Fauji today is that these truths were widely known to the netas, babus, „guptchars‟, academics, intellectuals, as well as the media monarchs of the 50s & 60s. And not one of them rubbished the idea of a coup which is why this evil narrative of a coup d‟état by Indian Armed Forces persists? Unadulterated foolishness is it not? The silence against such imbecilic ideas is deafening. There must be loud voices raised to dispel this rotten hogwash. Any takers?
Conclusion
13. Many will wonder at the supreme confidence and impertinence of this author, to write such stuff about brigadiers, admirals, air marshals, generals of the 50s, 60s. The simple truth is this, I heard so much on this subject sitting quietly in drawing rooms full of officers of India‟s Armed Forces who were putatively wanting to engineer a coup. The atrociousness of the accusations was labelled as traitorous because of the unswerving loyalty of these fauji officers among whom I sat and listened. Names of those who were in actual command of offensive forces would pop up in these conversations. Their unchallenged allegiance, dedication to the idea that is India, and complete disinterest in such insanity would be spoken of. Sometimes, the presence of civil servants threw up arguments, repartees, witticism and humour. In those days the camaraderie between IAS & ICS and Faujis was strong, unlike today. There was much socialising, children went to same schools, wives played mah-jong and canasta together, they were all members of Delhi Gymkhan Club. DSOI did not exist. The women folk of that era who heard the tales absorbed the essence, but kept their peace and opinions to themselves, to use another day. Whether it was Jalandhar, Shimla, Delhi, Pune, Ambala; whether it was while these supposed coup orchestrators were in uniform or retired; I heard, questioned, probed, argued, got clarifications, understood and assimilated their stories. I correctly concluded from those collective interactive discussions, that there were no secrets or subterfuge within the Armed Forces fraternity. The deliberate misleading narratives of a military coup in India, was and remains a sacrilegious slaughter of the loyalty of the Indian fauji afsar by the civil servant. The officers of that time were made of the same ‘atta’ as are today‟s officer. Same purity, same fortitude and the very same allegiance.
14.There are thousands of things that the Indian Armed Forces officer will do willingly, and will do it well. There are other things that he will never do, and will prevent others from doing. Which Division / Brigade commander will give a free hand to rebellious officers and soldiers to shoot unarmed civilians? Which Captain of a Navy Destroyer will order his guns to fire on Govt buildings? Which Air Force Base commander will arm his fighter aircraft to bomb parliament? And even if they wish to do so, as evoked by some, will the others comply and obey such unlawful commands? The Indian Armed Forces are trained and honed to be the sharp end of Indian power, and not to overthrow their own institutions of democracy. These 77 years, have witnessed this truth and those who turn a blind eye to it are the greatest enemies of India and her people. It is tragicomic is it not, when non-military government servants consistently look for but cannot find the treachery they seek in the uniformed man? They have been at it for 70 years and still cannot unearth the perfidious betrayal by Indian Faujis. Recall the pathetic charges against General VK Singh on 16 January 2012 in the media. How many of VK Singh‟s PSOs / Army Commanders / Area Commanders / Corps Commanders / Division Commanders did he have on his side to „spook‟ the Govt of India? Had VK Singh got Air Chief Browne and Navy Chief Verma on his side to scare Manmohan Singh? And both had said, “VK go ahead, let‟s have some fun”. One hopes that such wrongdoing is not repeated by the media / legislature / judiciary/ politicians/ babus/ activists and strategists. Those with idle free time on their hands, please spend it more fruitfully. It is my fervent hope that many readers will support such rebuttals against a military coup d‟état happening in India.
15. Military officers who plan coups build their own intelligence outfits and have elaborate plans that must coincide with political leaders being on unstable and weak platforms. Look at the concerted disinterest demonstrated by Fauji officers of India while political turmoil flourished in our country. They kept their peace, during the Emergency, in the decades of severe financial limitation and won wars with the weapons that India gave them. Recall the start of this article where most people consider military officers as strategic pygmies with very poor intellectual acumen; how can such ignoramuses be expected to engineer a coup d etat? So who are intellectually pygmies, those who accuse Fauji officers of a coup, or the Fauji? The Indian Armed Forces officers swear allegiance to their country and her people. For Faujis, Character is more pertinent than Reputation. The Commission granted to an officer is a personal bond between the Officer and the President, the Fauji officer serves at the pleasure of the President, not the Parliament or Supreme Court. To subvert that covenant between an Indian Fauji officer and the Rashtrapati, is against the very ‘tattva’ of the beliefs, teachings and training of Fauji officers. There is no compromise on this, not today, not tomorrow, never.
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