Why Modi gets his military history wrong
General Cariappa was just 50 (born 1899) when he took over. They made much younger chiefs then.That history can get you in a twist partly because of rapid developments that were taking place.For clarity: Both the Indian and Pakistani armies were led by British commanders through the 1947 48 campaign. They often exchanged notes with each other as the fighting went on.As if that wasn’t complicated enough, the operations on both sides were handed over to ‘native’ commanders dealing directly with the political leadership.India picked Cariappa to lead the Kashmir campaign. Then a lieutenant general, he was made to head the Delhi Cheap Moncler Jackets and East Punjab command. He promptly renamed it the Western Command.Confusion arises because Cariappa, in turn, hand picked a fellow Coorgi, Major General K S Thimayya, coincidentally the initial ‘K’ in both their names stands for Kodandera, their common clan.Cariappa sent Thimayya to command the Kashmir (later 19th) division, which did the crucial fighting in the early months. The Coorgis (or Kodavas) are a small and super successful ethnic group.In the fifties, these names were both unfamiliar and similar sounding. Both worked together, earned well deserved heroism in the Kashmir campaign, and became chiefs.Thimayya, unlike moncler outlet Cariappa (whose defence minister was the genial Sardar Baldev Singh, whose name preceded Santa Banta for the good hearted joke industry), had run ins with his defence cheap moncler coats minister, V K Krishna Menon.Menon, a deep crimson Communist, detested the starched, Anglicised Army brass.Thimayya had no patience with his minister’s constant interference. The late Inder Malhotra, among moncler jacket sale the finest chroniclers cheap moncler outlet of those years, recounted the delightful story of how Thimayya once wanted to take leave to avoid another moncler factory outlet inevitable face off with Menon and his aide asked him what he should mention as the reason.’Just say I have a touch of Menongitis,’ Thimayya said.Thimayya resigned in angry protest in 1959, only to be cheap moncler jackets persuaded by then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to withdraw and complete his term in 1961.All this, and the quaint Coorgi coincidence can confuse ordinary folk. But how can it also get the prime minister and his office mixed up? We might have a plausible hypothesis.IMAGE: General K M Cariappa greets Prime Minister Jawaharlal moncler outlet uk Nehru.Our history of 25 years after Independence is marked with wars, large ones with Pakistan (1947 48, 1965 and 1971) and China (1962), and small ones in Hyderabad (1948), Goa (1960) and again China in Sikkim’s Nathu La, 1967.Barring 1971, none of the major ones was a clear Indian victory. The one of 1962 was a moncler outlet jackets clear defeat, 1965 was a tired stalemate and 1947 48 was an unfinished business.A belief set has been consistently built through decades by the political class that the army could have done much better if it wasn’t let down by the political leaders of the day.To say that the politicians swallowed this poison to cover for the armed forces is an oversimplification, but only because they had no choice.These were the post colonial world’s perilous decades. Democratic institutions were still forming up and the armies were taking over, notably next door.The political class, led by Nehru, had many anxieties when civil military equations were still evolving. The challenge was establishing civilian/political pre eminence.At the same time, a civil military tension was to be avoided. Small fact: General (Later Field Marshal) Ayub Khan, who grabbed power in Pakistan in 1958, had served as colonel under Cariappa in his brigade in the Frontier.
moncler outlet sale
monlcer down jackets
moncler outlet
moncler mens jackets
cheap moncler https://www.kinkhost.com outlet
moncler sale outlet
buy moncler jackets
cheap moncler outlet online moncler jackets
cheap moncler
moncler outlet moncler jackets outlet store
cheap moncler coats
moncler outlet online
cheap moncler sale.