145;Free from anxiety, perplexity and fear146;

With the passing away of Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw M.C., a great military icon has passed into the annals of history.

With the passing away of Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw M.C., a great military icon has passed into the annals of history. Leaders of his calibre are like messiahs who come into the world to lead their men to glory in the service of their country. Sam, as he was affectionately called, had many firsts to his name, starting from the fact that he was the first officer trained in India to be appointed as chief of army staff in June 1969. His finest first would however be the victory in Bangladesh in the war of 1971. This is one feat for which he will be remembered by future generations. In the achievement of this victory he displayed distinct qualities of leadership which military leaders the world over will do well to emulate.

Leadership is about values, honesty, integrity and display of selflessness. Mature leaders are self assured, knowledgeable, compassionate and abhor employment of any coercive measures for implementation of their orders and earn the respect of their command through personal example and charisma. Sam Manekshaw was one such leader. Being decisive is the hallmark of superior commanders. In the army it is often said that capacity to command lies in the ability to take a decision, 8220;right, wrong or indifferent8221;. Taking such 8220;command decisions8221; implies that a military commander faced with a difficult choice assumes the responsibility for risks on the basis of his assessment. All decisions taken may not be correct. It therefore presumes personal responsibility in the exercise of authority having a decisive influence on the course of events that this decision would entail.

While in his career spanning nearly forty years in the army there are innumerable examples of this, it can be best illustrated by his refusal to the prime minister to undertake immediate operations against Pakistan in the east at the end of April in 1971. While putting across his views on the problems of undertaking immediate action in East Pakistan as directed by the PM in April 1971, he also sought clear directions on the 8220;chain of command8221; for these operations. This refers to the structure of command that enables passage of orders from the higher commander to the subordinate commanders while enabling a suitable mechanism for passing back of information, from the lower to the higher formations or commanders, to facilitate decision making. Wars and battles are lost by a nation when its leaders or commanders have not been too conscious about this chain of command. This itself called for a lot of moral courage.

The war of 1971 was a great example of cooperation among the three armed forces of the country engineered under his stewardship as the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee. For the army this was a unique experience in the participation of maximum number of formations in offensive operations. Sam8217;s two major concerns at the time of planning, were that in the past wars fought by the army the bulk of the army remained unemployed, thus making minimum contribution towards the overall aim, and in 1965, many commanders at different levels were removed from command. Given these inputs, Sam got all defensive formations to plan limited offensives in their sectors without incremental forces and ordered that there be 8220;no sackings8221;. At higher leadership levels, the exposure of a leader in different assignments does contribute substantively to the 8220;spoken reputation8221; of the leader. To his credit, Manekshaw had the unique experience of being afforded great opportunities in very responsible jobs at a relatively young age, at a time when the Army was being restructured. He also had a deep sense for the dignity of human beings.

While there are as many as 28-30 qualities listed out for leaders, Sam in his own inimitable way added another two. These were a leader must be 8220;lucky8221;, and he must be 8220;a bit of a lad!8221;

A very interesting aspect to his becoming a Field Marshal was brought home on his return to India from a visit to the Royal Scots in Edinburgh. He was informed by Major General W.T. Campbell, CBE, that Sam had created another first by an important 8220;double8221; which he had achieved for the Regiment through his promotion. The Royal Scots already had the distinction of having had the first Field Marshal in the British Army, when it was bestowed in 1763 by King George II upon George Hamilton, the 1st Earl of Orkney who was then colonel of the regiment, and now with Sam becoming the first Field Marshal in the Indian army, the regiment was claiming this 8216;double8217;.

Confucius said, 8220;There are three marks of a superior man: being virtuous, he is free from anxiety, being wise, he is free from perplexity, being brave, he is free from fear.8221; Sam certainly fitted the bill.

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The writer, a retired major general served as ADC and Deputy Military Assistant to Manekshaw August 68 till September 72

8216;Always ready, sweetie8217;

8226; During the Second World War, the courageous young Captain Manekshaw was honoured with the rare Military Cross on the battlefront in Burma, where he led a glorious counteroffensive against the Japanese army in Burma. Manekshaw took seven bullets in the stomach, and fearing the worst, Major General DT Cowan hastily pinned his own Military Cross on him, since a dead man could not be awarded the honour. But miraculously enough, Manekshaw survived to tell the tale and display the scars.

8226; While he was commandant of the Defence Services Staff College, his outspokenness rubbed Defence Minister VK Krishna Menon the wrong way. Manekshaw was sidelined, and even a court of inquiry was instituted against him, but he was later vindicated when the India Army was routed by the Chinese in North East Frontier Agency now Arunachal Pradesh. Menon resigned, and Manekshaw was rushed to the front by Nehru, where he demonstrated his immense inspirational leadership. He was unfailingly polite when he ran into Menon later 8211; even though Mrs. Silloo Manekshaw was decidedly icier.

8226; After the 8216;71 war, when Indira Gandhi asked him to go to Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani forces, Manekshaw, already concerned by the level of public adulation, declined, claiming that his army commander in the East Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora deserved the honour.

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8226; His sparring with Indira Gandhi is well-known. Preparing for the Bangladesh operations, when she asked him, 8216;General, are you ready?8217; To which he promptly replied 8216;I8217;m always ready, sweetie8217;. On a more fraught occasion, when Gandhi inquired whether he was planning to take over the country, Manekshaw pointed to his long Parsi nose and said, 8216;I don8217;t use it to poke into others8217; affairs8217;.