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| India's "Strong Man" weak before democracy | | | SHAFIQ MIR | 1/19/2012 11:17:50 PM |
| Indian Chief of the Army Staff, General V K Singh has approached supreme court pleading for justice in connection with the controversy erupted over his date of birth . I am not here to discuss that whether Indian general was born on 1950 or 1951, it is now court to decide the fate of the apparently strongest man of India. My point is that a man who commands and leads more than thirteen lakh armed personal of the country, one of the most powerful forces of the world, is as weak before his democratic system as an ordinary citizen of the country . This is something which shows that how much strong is Indian democratic system where a chief of the army staff having all powers of men, machinery and weaponry also approaches before the court of law for personal grievance . If our democratic system would have been weak, no body in the system would have dared to turn down the request of such a powerful general in connection with the correction of his date of birth . Can any body imagine, if something similar would have been happened to his counterpart in the neighboring country Pakistan, the chief of the army staff of that country would have brought down the government of the country .
And, all those who would have not obliged the general , can any body imagine the fate of that person whosoever might be . In fact, general VK Singh's example shows that Indian democracy is so strong that no body is above the law. I do not agree with the point raised by many discussants in TV debates that why didn't government settled the issue much earlier keeping in view the honour of the general and the organization he leads which is seen as strength of the country at global level . It was not big issue for the government to settle down the grievance of the general . The government had also option to give him one more year of extension with out accepting the claim of the general about his one year later date of birth, and issue would have been died with its own death . As per the details coming out, it is said that Gen. V K Singh has been fighting this battle since long but failed to get any favor despite being all powerful man of the country . It shows that despite being all powerful, he was forced to succumb before the system . With this instance, though Gen. Singh may have disappointed, but the democracy of the country has flourished much and become luring source for many other countries . Most of the people are disturbed with the incident and are describing it as an inefficiency of the government saying that it has failed to settle down the issue .
Can they tell that how the government should have settled this issue . Perhaps such people have an opinion that government should have accepted the claim of the general and should have resolved his issue keeping in view the honour of the institution he was heading . Generally, the people have soft corner with the army for the country which is savior of the nation in other words. But I think, Indian army has earned this respect among the masses of the country only because of its distance from the power . And Indian army has always up held and honored the law of the country .
It is the only reason that Indian citizens have by and large a soft corner for the army of the country . However, the case is different in the neighboring country Pakistaan . In Pakistan the general public has always been against the army only because of the tainted affairs of the force . To many observers, Indian army chief's presence in the court of the country for a minor issue, has international implications too. The instance can be used and exploited by many nominal democratic countries to snub their own generals . Particularly, in the neighboring country Pakistan, the civil society of the country and opinion making class can use this example before their generals who do not care about the laws of their own country . ( The author is a working journalist and can be reached at [email protected] or 9419170570 ) |
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