Row over Gen Naravane's memoir raises the question: Should Army prioritise merit over seniority?

WHile former ground forces Chief superior general MM Naravane has endorsed the financial statement of his controversial rule book newspaper publisher, he has not denied the leaked excerpts from his 'unpublished' book where he has allegedly accused the Modi government for not holding his hand during the August 2020 confrontation with the Chinese PLA on the slopes of Rechin and Rezang La, also called R2) in East Ladakh.Penguin Random House India (PRHI) has issued a formal clarification stating that it holds the exclusive publishing rights to the memoir Four Stars of Destiny and that the book has not yet been published, amid controversy over alleged unauthorised copies in circulation.Even though the manuscript of the so-called unpublished book is still to be approved by Ministry of Defence, the entire on-going unsavory episode raises questions on the accountability of the leadership of Indian armed forces, which is known for its discipline. Prima facie, Gen Naravane has tried to damn the Modi government unilaterally even though Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, late Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, then Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Y K Joshi and then 14 Core Commander Lieutant General Harinder Singh were all part of the East Ladakh riposte of Indian Army.With Gen Naravane unilaterally criticizing the East Ladakh division commander Harinder Singh for being unable to contain the PLA transgression in East Ladakh in May 2020, the former Chief has opened the Pandora's box as now others may also join in writing their version of events and the role that Naravane played in the East Ladakh theatre.Incidentally, Lt Gen Harinder Singh was awarded the PVSM in 2021 on the recommendation of the same Army chief.General Naravane took over from Gen Rawat as the Army Chief in December 2019 due to his seniority even though the late CDS pitched for the current CDS as his successor purely on merit and war fighting capabilities. At that time, the present CDS was Eastern Army Commander and was succeeded by Gen Manoj Pande, who became Army Chief after Gen Naravane demitted office.While the Modi government has empowered the Indian national security establishment with latest hardware, software and financial resources, Gen Naravane's one-sided unpublished view calls for accountability of the Indian military commanders.When Gen Naravane can hold the Modi government responsible for handing him what he called hot potato in August 2020 in face of mounting aggression of the PLA on south banks of Pangong Tso, then the government should also seek accountability for Indian security forces incapability of stopping infiltration of Pakistan jihadists across the LoC and IB in Jammu and Kashmir.Simply put, Pathankot, Uri, Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks would not have taken place if the objective of zero infiltration had been achieved by the Indian security forces and intelligence. That the Narendra Modi government was forced to militarily respond to all the terror attacks meant that lakhs of crore worth of aircraft, missiles, shells, ammunition were spent on the Indian retaliation.This leads us to question whether the Modi government should appoint military commanders, para-military chiefs and intelligence chiefs on basis of seniority or on basis of their performance and merit in combat or adverse conditions.With India currently the number four military and economic power in the world, the time has come for the military-civilian bureaucracy to take its game to the next level.Neither the armed forces nor the intelligence are file-pushing government departments, they are the spearhead of Indian national security. The time has come for rewarding initiative rather than looking at the political leadership to take all the decisions. The incompetent and inept should be shown the door.