Does slander of next Army Chief help Gen VK Singh's cause?

The Supreme Court did well to decisively reject the public interest litigation (PIL) against the next Army Chief, Lt Gen Bikram Singh. The PIL was probably nothing more than a misguided effort to muddy the waters for the latter – and the Supreme Court was clear about that. It is time for partisans who believe Gen VK Singh was given a raw deal in the age controversy to back off. While it is possible that Gen Singh did not get justice on his date of birth issue, it does not mean that his supporters should try and scuttle his successor’s chances of starting with a clean slate. [caption id=“attachment_286459” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Gen VK Singh’s supporters should not try and scuttle his successor, Lt Gen Bikram Singh’s, chances of starting with a clean slate. Tekee Tanwar/AFP”]  [/caption] One injustice cannot be countered with another. At this stage, when the army and the country have been treated to an unholy civilian-army row, denting morale and image in the armed forces, the last thing one needs is a new army chief stuck with all the baggage of suspicions. Consider all the muck that has been thrown at Lt Gen Bikram Singh. He has been accused of being involved in a false encounter. To which the court replied: “A colonel is shot dead. A jawan is killed. And you are saying that it is a fake encounter! One lieutenant is injured, and you call this a fake encounter!" Lt Gen Singh’s daughter-in-law is said to be Pakistani. The top Sikh body, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, is said to have intervened on behalf of Lt Gen Bikram Singh.This might have been unwise, but is no disqualification. Indian troops who were on a peace-keeping mission in the Congo are alleged to have participated in local sexcapades, and the women were apparently asked to keep mum by being given special rations, and money. Lt Gen Bikram Singh was said to have helped hush it up. Lt Gen Singh is said to have been an unfair beneficiary of former Army Chief Gen JJ Singh’s look-down policy which ostensibly had the intention of ensuring Bikram’s succession by curtailing Gen VK Singh’s career by one year using the age controversy. The court correctly refused to reopen the age issue brought in by the petitioners. The Supreme Court was appalled to hear this laundry list of allegations against the next Army Chief and rightly said that if anything was to come of these allegations, the normal court cases would be able to deal with them. While almost everyone agrees that Gen VK Singh was an above-board officer on issues like corruption, this perception cannot be presumed to mean that his successor is somehow likely to be corrupt. If that happens to be true, our media and army should surely be more than willing to expose that. To imply through innuendo and contrast that Lt Gen Bikram Singh is somehow unworthy of his next posting is not only an attempt to demean the office of the Army Chief, but it also does no credit to the supporters of Gen VK Singh. It is time to close the age controversy and the murky chapter in civil-army relationships. The next Army Chief deserves the support of the country to do the onerous job of defending it. There is no point in us trying to ruin his ability to defend us by shackling him from Day One with suspicion and the air of illegitimacy.