While former army chief General MM Naravane backed his controversial book publisher’s statement, he did not deny the leaked excerpts from his ‘unpublished’ book in which he accused the Modi government of not holding his hand during the August 2020 clashes with the Chinese PLA on the slopes of Rechin and Rezhang La.
PM Modi with RM Rajnath Singh, NSA Doval and Armed Forces Chief during OP Sindoor.Penguin Random House India (PRHI) has issued an official clarification that it holds the exclusive publishing rights to the memoir Four Stars of Destiny and the book is yet to be published amid controversy over unauthorized copies in circulation.
Despite the manuscript of the so-called unpublished book still being approved by the Ministry of Defence, the whole ongoing scandal raises questions about the accountability of the leadership of the Indian Armed Forces, known for its discipline. Initially, General Naravane tried to unilaterally curse the Modi government even though Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, late Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat, then Northern Army Commander Lt General YK Joshi and then 14 Corps Commander Lt General Harinder Singh were part of the East Indian Army.
By unilaterally criticizing East Ladakh Division Commander Harinder Singh, General Naravane for not being able to prevent PLA transgressions in eastern Ladakh in May 2020, the former chief has opened a Pandora’s box as now others can join in writing their version of events and the role Naravane played in the eastern Ladakh theatre.
Incidentally, Lt Gen Harinder Singh was awarded the PVSM in 2021 on the recommendation of the same Army Chief.
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General Naravane took over from General Rawat as the Army Chief in December 2019 due to his seniority even though the late CDS is his successor as the current CDS based purely on merit and combat ability. At that time, the current CDS was the Eastern Army Commander and was succeeded by General Manoj Pandey, who became the Army Chief after General Naravane resigned.
While the Modi government has empowered India’s National Security Agency with the latest hardware, software and financial resources, General Naravane’s one-sided undisclosed approach calls for accountability of Indian military commanders.
While General Naravane can blame the Modi government for calling him a hot potato in August 2020 in the face of increasing PLA aggression on the southern bank of the Pangong Tso, the government should also be held accountable for the inability of the Indian security forces to stop the infiltration of Pakistani jihadists across the LoC and the IB in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Simply put, the Pathankot, Uri, Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks would not have happened if the zero infiltration target had been achieved by Indian security forces and intelligence. The Narendra Modi government was forced to respond militarily to all terrorist attacks which meant Indian retaliation costing lakhs of crores of aircraft, missiles, shells, ammunition.
This leads us to the question whether the Modi government should appoint military commanders, paramilitary chiefs and intelligence chiefs on the basis of seniority or on the basis of their performance and merit in combat or adverse situations.
With India currently the world’s number four military and economic power, it is time to take the military-civilian bureaucracy game to the next level.
Neither the armed forces nor the intelligence services file-push government departments, they spearhead Indian national security. The time has come for rewarded initiative rather than looking to political leadership to make all decisions. The incompetent and incompetent must be shown the door.
