There is a very thin line between becoming a Field Marshal and being dismissed. A very angry prime minister read out messages from chief ministers of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura. All of them saying that hundreds and thousands of refugees had poured into their states and they did not know what to do .
So the Prime Minister turned round to me and said,
“I want you to do something.”
I said, “What do you want me to do?”
She said, “I want you to enter East Pakistan.”
I said, “ Do you know that that means war?”
She said, “I do not mind it is war.”
I, in my usual stupid way said, “Prime Minister, have you read the Bible?” and the Foreign Minister, Sardar Swaran Singh in his Punjabi accent said, “What has Bible got to do with this?”, and I said, “The first book, the first chapter, the first paragraph, the first sentence, God said, “let there be light” and there was light. You turn this round and say “let there be war and there will be war. What do you think? Are you ready for a war ? Let me tell you— it’s the 28th of April, the Himalayan passes are opening now, and if the Chinese give us an ultimatum I will have to fight on two fronts.”
Again, Sardar Swaran Singh turned round and in his Punjabi English said, “Will China give ultimatum?” I said, “You are the foreign minister. You tell me.”Then I turned to the prime minister and said, “Prime Minister, last year you wanted elections in West Bengal and you did not want the Communists to win, so you asked me to deploy my soldiers in penny pockets in every village, in every little township in West Bengal. I have two divisions thus deployed in sections and platoons without their heavy weapons. It will take me at least a month to get them back to their units and to their formations.
Further, I have a division in the Assam area, another division in Andhra Pradesh and the Armoured division in the Jhansi–Babina area. It will take me at least a month to get them back and put them in their correct positions. I will require every road, every railway train, every truck, every wagon to move them. We are harvesting in the Punjab, and we are harvesting in Haryana, we are also harvesting in Uttar Pradesh. And you will not be able to move your harvest.”
I turned to the agriculture Minister, Mr Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, “If there is a famine in the country afterwards, it will be you to blame, not me.” Then I said, “My armoured division has only got thirteen tanks which are functioning.” The finance minister, Mr Chavan, a friend of mine, said, “Sam, why only thirteen?” “Because you are the Finance Minister. I have been asking for money for the last year and a half, and you keep saying there is no money. That is why.”
Then I turned to the Prime Minister and said, “Prime Minister, it is the end of April. But the time I am ready to operate the monsoon will have broken in the East Pakistan area. When it rains, it does not just rain, it pours. Rivers become like oceans. If you stand on one bank, you can not see the other and the whole countryside is flooded. My movements will be confined to roads, the Air Force will not be able to support me and, if you wish me to enter East Pakistan, I guarantee you a hundred percent defeat.”
“You are the government”, I said turning to the Prime Minister, “Now will you give me your orders?”
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have seldom seen a woman so angry, and I am including my wife in that. She was red in the face and I said, “Let us see what happens.” She turned round and said, “The cabinet will meet this evening at four o’ clock.” Everybody walked out. I being the junior-most man was the last to leave.
As I was leaving, she said, “Chief, please will you stay behind?” I looked at her. I said, “Prime Minister, before you open your mouth, would you like me to sent in my resignation on grounds of health, mental or physical?” “No. Sit down, Sam. Was everything you told me the truth?” “Yes. It is my job to tell you the truth. It is my job to fight and win, not to lose.”
She smiled at me and said me, “All right, Sam. You know what I want. When will you be ready?”
“I can not tell you now, Prime Minister”, I said,
“But let me guarantee you this that, if you leave me alone, allow me to plan, make my agreements, and fix a date, I guarantee you a hundred percent victory.”
So there is a very thin line between becoming a field marshal and being dismissed. Just an example of moral courage. Now, those of you who remember what happened in 1962, when the Chinese occupied the Thag-la ridge and Mr Nehru, the prime minister, sent for the army chief, in the month of December and said, “I want you to throw the Chinese out.” That Army Chief did not have the moral courage to stand up to him and say, “I am not ready, my troops are acclimatised, I haven’t the ammunition, or indeed anything.” But he accepted the Prime Minister’s instructions, with the results that the Army was beaten and the country humiliated.
This takes me to the next attribute: physical courage. Fear, like hunger and sex, is a natural phenomenon. Any man who says he is not frightened is a liar or a Gorkha. It is one thing to be frightened. It is another to show fear
