02-21-2006, 03:24 AM
<b>Playing with fire </b>
<i>Pranab Mukherjee is undeserving of being defence minister.</i><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->20 February 2006: Who would be our worst defence minister? The best we know, Y.B.Chawan, who prepared the military in time to win the 1965 war that Pakistan provoked. The second best defense minister we know too, undoubtedly George Fernandes, who not only understood and encouraged higher military thinking, but also spend the most quality time with the troops, undertaking a record number of visits to Siachen, the worst place for any infantry to be anywhere in the world. And it is unbelievable that at his age, he was riding seventy, Fernandes went twice up in a MiG-21 to pull the air forceâs morale that it was a good, safe warplane. Not many men who can afford not to do such a thing would do so, much less a minister. And we know what ministers are made of from the general run of them.
But to the first question, who is our worst defence minister? Not, as most would vote, Mulayam Singh Yadav, he did not get enough time and opportunity to damage the military, but it would be a close call between V.K.Krishna Menon, who lead us to the 1962 debacle, and Pranab Mukherjee, who is now aiding the process of communalisation of our singular great armed forces. Probably Krishna Menon would still win the odds of being our worst minister to head the defence forces, but Pranab Mukherjee comes a close second.
What makes Krishna Menon and Pranab Mukherjee worse than they otherwise would be is their destructive cleverness, even brilliance, in Menonâs case, and a shysterâs approach with Pranab. Krishna Menon was of course close to Nehru, Nehru had a blindspot for the man, but Menon had such powers of convincing and he was so much a consummate and ruthless infighter, playing on Nehruâs perpetual fears of an army coup, that he prevented the modernisation and optimum rearmament of the defence forces. He also played on Nehruâs line that the Chinese were friends, and would never be inimical to us, at least because we went out on a limb to back them in the UN. But more pertinent to the army, Krishna Menon with Nehruâs backing completely destroyed General K.S.Thimayyaâs great plans for reviving the Indian army, and in the end, Thimayya, who could have made all the difference to 1962, went away a bitter, disillusioned man. ...............
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Thank God, he is not a PM.
<i>Pranab Mukherjee is undeserving of being defence minister.</i><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->20 February 2006: Who would be our worst defence minister? The best we know, Y.B.Chawan, who prepared the military in time to win the 1965 war that Pakistan provoked. The second best defense minister we know too, undoubtedly George Fernandes, who not only understood and encouraged higher military thinking, but also spend the most quality time with the troops, undertaking a record number of visits to Siachen, the worst place for any infantry to be anywhere in the world. And it is unbelievable that at his age, he was riding seventy, Fernandes went twice up in a MiG-21 to pull the air forceâs morale that it was a good, safe warplane. Not many men who can afford not to do such a thing would do so, much less a minister. And we know what ministers are made of from the general run of them.
But to the first question, who is our worst defence minister? Not, as most would vote, Mulayam Singh Yadav, he did not get enough time and opportunity to damage the military, but it would be a close call between V.K.Krishna Menon, who lead us to the 1962 debacle, and Pranab Mukherjee, who is now aiding the process of communalisation of our singular great armed forces. Probably Krishna Menon would still win the odds of being our worst minister to head the defence forces, but Pranab Mukherjee comes a close second.
What makes Krishna Menon and Pranab Mukherjee worse than they otherwise would be is their destructive cleverness, even brilliance, in Menonâs case, and a shysterâs approach with Pranab. Krishna Menon was of course close to Nehru, Nehru had a blindspot for the man, but Menon had such powers of convincing and he was so much a consummate and ruthless infighter, playing on Nehruâs perpetual fears of an army coup, that he prevented the modernisation and optimum rearmament of the defence forces. He also played on Nehruâs line that the Chinese were friends, and would never be inimical to us, at least because we went out on a limb to back them in the UN. But more pertinent to the army, Krishna Menon with Nehruâs backing completely destroyed General K.S.Thimayyaâs great plans for reviving the Indian army, and in the end, Thimayya, who could have made all the difference to 1962, went away a bitter, disillusioned man. ...............
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<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thank God, he is not a PM.