Grumpy Mr VK Singh on Pak National Day: The embarrassing fruit of PM Modi's pre-poll jingoism

On Monday night, soon after emerging with a long face from the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi, Vijay Kumar Singh, former army chief and now a junior minister in the Narendra Modi government, tweeted several definitions of duty. But he forgot to tell us what famous playright and critic GB Shaw once said on the subject. “When a stupid man,” Shaw wrote in Caesar and Cleopatra, “is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.” Shaw may not have been completely off the mark. After rubbing shoulders with the Pakistani high commissioner and Hurriyat leaders, all gathered under one roof to celebrate Pakistan’s national day, Singh let it be known that he was almost dragged to the venue, or rather made to march, in the name of duty. “A minister of state had to be sent by the government. They sent me and I went there and came back," he said replying to a question about his presence at the reception. Not content with his churlish I-didn’t-want-to-but-my-boss-forced-me argument, Singh went a step further in the night, cryptically suggesting that he found the entire experience #disgusting. [caption id=“attachment_2170949” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  VK Singh. IBN Live.[/caption] Now, how daft is that! When he was assigned the #duty (“the force that binds one morally or legally to one’s obligations” and “a job or a service allocated”), Singh must have been expected to behave like a mature diplomat and at least put up the public pretence of sharing our neighbour’s joy on their national day. But Singh behaved as if he was at a funeral. First he hung around with a scowl on his face, refused to eat or drink, didn’t speak much and then walked out within a few minutes. How’s that for diplomacy table manners? Perhaps Singh’s I-am-at-my-fiancée’s-wedding expression would have gone unnoticed if he had not shared his discomfort on Twitter. By accepting his embarrassment in public, baring his emotions on twitter, Singh told the entire world that an Indian minister can be disgusted and ashamed when asked to attend such formal occasions with Pakistanis. And that he bears the insufferable pain only because the government of India has to send a minister and, like a pliant soldier, somebody has to perform the unfortunate duty. It must have been really embarrassing for the PM, who had started the day on an optimistic note. “I have written to Pakistan PM Mr Nawaz Sharif, conveying my greetings on the National Day of Pakistan,” Modi tweeted. He also expressed hope that all outstanding issues can be resolved through bilateral talks. But Singh has his own thoughts on dealing with Pakistan and emotions for their national day. In many ways, Singh’s behavior is symptomatic of the BJP’s discomfort on issues related to Pakistan and Kashmir. Having won the election on jingoistic rhetoric, promises of just and quick retribution against every slight, real or perceived, by Pakistan, many in the BJP find it difficult to soften down. Winston Churchill once famously said jaw-jaw is always better than war-war. So Modi too has realised the futility of being a perennial hardliner and is, rightly, trying to give talks and diplomacy another opportunity. But many like Singh find the transition from war hawks to peace doves uncomfortable. Obviously, you can take a General out of the war, but you can’t take the war out of a General. Apart from the general ideological discomfort, Singh’s outburst also indicates that he has a problem controlling his emotions and is prone to using Twitter as a weapon for fighting his personal wars. A few months ago, Singh had embarrassed the Modi government when he railed against the appointment of Lt General Dalbir Suhag as army chief. “If a unit kills innocents, does dacoity and then head of organisation tries to protect them, should he not be blamed? Criminals should not go scot free,” Singh had tweeted in a last-gasp effort to stall Suhag’s appointment. Given his propensity to put self-before-nation, disgust-before-duty it isn’t a big surprise that Singh’s political career has failed to take off. Unless he puts his foot in his twitter handle, Singh is hardly noticed. Sadly, in his 12 months as a minister, he hasn’t done anything of significance, a fact that earned him a demotion in the last round of Cabinet reshuffle and brought him at par with his junior officer Rajyavardhan Rathore. Given Singh’s history, it would be interesting to see how long does Modi allow the bumbling General to carry on with his ministerial #duty and ignore his #disgusting faux pas.