POOR CIVIL-MILITARY
RELATIONS-ROOT CAUSE OF MALAISE TODAY
Most
democracies have struggled to find a balance in their civil - military
relations. Unlike India, more seasoned democracies of the West have learnt to
handle frequent disharmony between the two, owing to decades and centuries of deployment
of their Armed Forces in Great Wars and more importantly at distant locations
away from their home land. Refinements in processes of Command and Control were
thrust upon them due to extraordinary circumstances including the post World
War 2 occupation of Germany and Japan. This was managed and run by Military
Officers who were suitably empowered and authorized by Heads of elected
Governments of their respective countries. There were also occasions such as
the Truman-Mac Arthur dispute, during the Korean War, which was seen as one of
the most illustrative tools of the civil-military friction in the history of
USA.
The Indian
scene was quite the contrary. Along with independence came a series of Coup de'tat,
in many of the Countries in our region. India alone stood as a shining example of a copy book
democracy, with the Armed Forces remaining apolitical all the way. This is no
mean achievement, especially given the fragility of so many of our neighbours
who had to be subjected to Military intervention in their internal politics. But
this 'harmonious' civil-military equation in India, came at a price. The
civilian leadership right from Independence began to neglect the dire needs
of both the serving and the retired Soldiers. (The term Soldier is used to
encompass all three services and their men) Modernization of weapons and sensors, service
conditions and health care of serving soldiers and the care that ought to be
extended to retired soldiers through reemployment opportunity and compassion
towards widows of war veterans etc continued to be accorded less priority.
The
politician was never very comfortable with the strict traditions and
dress codes that gave the military a distinct identity and character. Consequently,
the sanctity
of civil -military relations were from time to time tested. Some of the notable events of conflict were, Nehru-Gen Thimmaya, Krishna Menon- Gen Thapar and later Indira-Gen
Manekshaw. The military, however, conducted itself with dignity and discipline. Since the
media was not intrusive and confidentiality of sensitive information was
respected, matters of dispute remained in-house and appeared in print only when
someone wrote a book, years after the event. Leakage of information outside the confines of the Defence Ministry was considered to be blasphemous acts.
Civilian control over the military went
through periods of tension without violating the basic tenets of Command and
control. Errant and less informed Defence Ministers with personal agenda did try to
intervene in routine matters of administration,promotion and land acquisition/ disposal.In most cases direct access of the Chiefs
to the Prime Minister, acted as a
relief valve. Equilibrium was soon restored when needed.
The
discomfort of the Politician continued to grow even as the quality of Politics
and politicians deteriorated after mid 1970s'.In order to sequester the politician from assertive soldiers, the bureaucracy was
increasingly given the responsibility to decide on most matters military. This
was aggravated when some Prime Ministers also held the Defence portfolio in addition to many other Ministries. On such
occasions, RRM's chosen to fire- fight on day to day activities, were quite
incompetent and relied heavily on the bureaucracy. Consequently,the service Chiefs had
to stand in queue to meet the Prime Minister. Earlier, they had the liberty to walk in and
out of the PM's office when necessary.
After the
Rajiv Gandhi era which enjoyed better civil-military relations, the country was
subjected to a grave economic crisis which resulted in shelving of all major
modernisation programmes for nearly a decade. Matters Military were relegated in priority till combat efficiency began to erode.
Another
major factor that has had deleterious effects on civil-military relations is
that Armed forces deployed to restore law and order in poorly administered and
terrorism infested states of India including Kashmir, found themselves permanently
deployed with no solution on the horizon. Troops so deployed are exposed to politicization owing to the nature of
the environment and firsthand knowledge of political exploitation and
machinations.
A series of events thereafter led to reduction
of the status of the soldier in society: until Kargil restored some aspects of
neglect, when the electronic media brought the war to the drawing rooms of our
citizens.
The first
serious review to study what led to Kargil was entrusted to late K Subrahmaniam,
the well known expert on strategic affairs. The team formed under him consisted
of experts drawn from the retired community as well as people of considerable
experience in their respective domain. The then Government, ensured that the
study was carefully vetted by a competent group of Ministers, who in turn
formed Task forces to address the issues that would lead to successful
implementation of the broad recommendations submitted by the Subrahmaniam
Committee.
By a twist
of fate, Tehelka expose exploded in the face of the ruling party. George
Fernandes was forced to step down. The second 'coincidence' occurred at this point in time. The
External Affairs Minister was given temporary charge of Defence. In a short
stint, he proved that perhaps he was the most perceptive and far sighted Raksha
Mantri that independent India had seen. He was an acknowledged scholar with a
Military background and an author of one of the best written books on Defence
of India. He had already appointed Arun Singh, former RRM in the Rajiv Gandhi
Government as an advisor to EAM.
Arun Singh, was
perhaps one of the few corporate honchos brought into Government, by Rajiv
Gandhi, based purely on his passion for matters Military and unparalleled
knowledge of how the Military and bureaucracy ought to function. The far
sighted RM now holding fort for his colleague who had stepped down, promptly
selected Arun Singh to head the Task Force on Higher Defence Management. Arun
Singh had substantial knowledge on how the Ministry of Defence functioned and
he had a rare insight into knowledge of the Military including its modernisation. Arguably, independent India had perhaps not seen a Civilian with this capability. He was also the leader of the team which produced a document titled The Committee on Defence Expenditure(CDE), for the VP
Singh Govt. The only occasion when he came out of a self imposed ban, after his
abrupt departure from Rajiv's cabinet.
Having been
made the leader of the Task Force on Higher Defence Management, Arun Singh left
no stone unturned to bring to light a whole range of changes and reforms that
would have made India a very potent and effective force to reckon with.
Based on
facts and drawing from experiences gained by developed nations of the West,
this report contained far reaching reforms that made the bureaucracy and some
uniformed officer, both serving and retired, very nervous. As long as Arun
Singh continued as an Advisor in the South Block and the EAM was holding
temporary charge of Defence, they worked
as a well oiled team. Implementation of all the recommendations moved
flawlessly and rather speedily. Red tape and delaying tactics at all levels were
dealt with firmly and decisively. It appeared to be the turning point in Indian
Military history. It was not to be.
The next
episode is quite inexplicable. Prime Minister Vajpayee for reasons best known
to him stopped the most important reform of all. Integrating the Armed forces
under a single Chief, was stalled by him. All the progress made until then came
to a dead halt.
Enter George
Fernandes after he was cleared of all charges and Arun Singh quit his post as
abruptly as he did, when he left Rajiv. Another coincidence? One will never
know until one of the main actors writes about it one day.
The greatest
opportunity to cleanse the system of all its malaise was thus lost. Needless to
say no further reforms were carried out by the new Govt. The bogey of the CDS
becoming an all powerful entity reappeared. Equations and pay and allowances of
Soldiers were distorted. Post Vietnam- like scenes were witnessed on the
streets of Delhi. Soldiers returning medals, the age row of a Chief and now the
spectacle on Television on the VK Singh episode, which makes India look like a
banana republic, are all symptoms of a disease caused by Poor Civil- Military
relations.
The sad part
is that, all of it was caused by uninformed Ministers, a leaderless bureaucracy
which is equally uninformed on matters Military and conniving Soldiers who were
too parochial and petty minded to waste a golden opportunity for reforms.
No reforms
of the armed forces have been successfully planned and executed by the Soldiers
themselves. They have been thrust upon them, ala, Maggie Thatcher, the Iron Lady
and the Gold Water Nichols act in USA.
As Arun
Singh often said, "Those who have vision have no power and those in power
lack vision on matters Military".
(Suresh
Bangara, former C-IN-C of Southern Naval Command and presently Vice President
Nav Bharat Democratic Party.)
