The air is bound to be thick with questions about the resignation of the deputy chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Marshal S S H Naqvi. I...
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The air is bound to be thick with questions about the resignation of the deputy chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Marshal S S H Naqvi. It is highly unusual for the IAF to lose prematurely the services of an officer of this rank. Naqvi has said his reasons for quitting are personal but newspapers report unhappiness over a posting out of headquarters. Either way it would be better for all concerned if Air Headquarters or the Defence Ministry were to put out a clear statement. It is necessary to scotch wild rumour and give the public the facts. Gone are the days when transfers, promotions and resignations were in-service matters of interest only to a few outside specialists. The Ministry of Defence should realise that the public appetite for information about the armed forces has grown with the feeding.
The defence services have been thrust into the limelight as never before thanks, in particular, to the sacking of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat and heightened political rhetoric about 8220;national security8221;. These aremainly responsible for raising the level of public interest in what goes on in the armed forces. There is no escape from questions, therefore, when, on the heels of successful air operations in Kargil, a series of IAF transfers takes place and an air marshal ejects. Some would say the armed forces should be allowed to do their stuff undisturbed by vulgar curiosity. This paper has argued that more public scrutiny is healthy in the long run. The Bhagwat case brought new information to light some of which may have been embarrassing for the government and the Indian Navy. But it provided an invaluable education for the public on how government works and also highlighted the need for reform.
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There is a growing tendency among members of the armed forces to invite the public8217;s attention. This happens when the faith in the system weakens due to political or bureaucratic meddling. In the best of all worlds, therefore, the unseemly controversy over the letters purportedly written by Brigadier Surinder Singh shouldnever have happened. Yes, if the Army Headquarters and the Union Cabinet failed to respond to early warnings of Kargil intrusions appropriately, and in time, it is an issue that must be debated institutionally and in the media. But the timing of the ongoing tamasha, its political overtones and the Congress spokesman waving secret army documents add up to great national shame and embarrassment. The BJP is not innocent either. In the euphoria of victory and in anticipation of an electoral windfall, it did more to politicise the armed forces than any other government has done since V.K. Krishna Menon. The Defence Ministry8217;s disastrous directive to senior officials to brief a BJP meeting 8212; the respective service chiefs are known to have pulled up these officers and remonstrated with the government 8212; and the use of the portraits of the three chiefs in election campaigns were not acts of a mature political leadership. Once the dust of electoral politics settles and a new government takes over, its firstpriority should be to repair the damage the politicisation and buccaneer handling of the Defence Ministry and the armed forces in the recent past has caused.
