The Indian Army and the ‘Panipat Syndrome’

Indian Army: Vision 2020       
Gurmeet Kanwal   
HarperCollins
342 pages
Rs495 

Born To Dare: The Life Of Lt Gen. Inderjit Singh Gill
S Muthiah
Penguin
298 pages
Rs495

Two books related to the Indian Army, one charting a vision for the 21st century (Indian Army: Vision 2020) and the other, a biography of one of its better known legends (Born To Dare: The Life Of Lt. Gen. Inderjit Singh Gill) are the subjects of this review. Both are well produced and make for an interesting read.

However, Gurmeet Kanwal’s book on the Indian Army has been written under the presumption that the background issues are well known to an informed reader. It attempts to figure a way out hereafter for the Indian Army, which is, at present, deployed extensively along the borders with China and Pakistan, besides being engaged in manpower-intensive counter insurgency operations for the past half century. Kanwal is a former Indian Brigadier and is now the latest addition to India’s growing band of soldier-scholars. Having authored several books, he is now at the helm of the Delhi-based Centre for Land Warfare Studies.

And though his book focuses primarily on the Indian Army, his findings re-affirm the central message: that in the high-tech battlefield of tomorrow, only a tri-Service joint operation that will be jointly conceived, planned and executed can offer success in the modern battlefield. Moreover, while dealing with threats within the country, the Indian Army must operate in complete harmony with the plethora of police and paramilitary forces across India. Therefore, a better part of this book explains in great detail the threats India faces and how the Army has coped with them. 

Having explained the strategic and the tactical issues involved, Kanwal goes on to make his recommendations about how the Indian Army must restructure to meet the emerging challenges of the 21st century. He refers to the ‘Panipat Syndrome’, implying that our leaders must not wake up only when the enemy knocks on our door, as was the case with the two battles of Panipat — in 1526 when Babur attacked India and then in 1556 when Akbar’s forces demolished the then rulers of Delhi — and more recently, in the case of the Kargil conflict, when Pakistani intrusions caused panic in New Delhi. To be a major Asian power, India must set aside its passive, reactive policies and instead, flex its muscles when it needs to. How this can be done, is what Kanwal’s book is all about.

Until now, India’s Army in general and its leadership in particular hasn’t failed the country despite several political goof-ups. And the reason for this is the long line of top class Army officers that have led India’s Army. One such man, a legend in his own right, was Lt Gen. Inderjit Singh Gill, PVSM, MC. And S Muthiah, a veteran journalist and the author of over 20 historical books, has painted a vivid picture of a soldier whose legacy will last long.

Inder Gill was born to a Sikh father and a Scottish mother, and though small in build (he was only 5’ 7” tall), he enlisted as a soldier in the tough Scottish Black Watch Regiment. Coming as he did from a well-heeled background, his wearing of night suits in the barracks often drew loud laughter from his rugged colleagues, none of whom owned a pair of pajamas! But somewhere someone discovered Inder Gill’s background and sent him off to become an officer. Soon thereafter, World War II broke out and Inder Gill ended up volunteering for a Special Forces outfit that was led by a Churchill-type cigar-smoking Brigadier, who decided to throw Inder Gill and his lot into Greece, with the aim of pinning the Germans and Italians hard behind the lines. At the end of it, Inder Gill won a military cross for gallantry though he looked more a school boy and less a soldier even in his battle fatigues.

Soon the War ended, and Inder Gill opted to join the Indian Army. He excelled wherever he was posted — at the IMA, Dehradun, to the command of a unit in J&K as he battled Pakistani raiders, and then as head of a parachute battalion in Gaza, as part of the world’s first ever peace-keeping force. Inder Gill was a hugely admired paratrooper who often made his superiors uneasy and his subordinates comfortable. He rose to be India’s Director of Military Operations in the 1971 war and eventually an Army Commander. A group of scientists even named an insect, H Gilli, in the General’s honour.

Maroof Raza is a former Indian Army officer.