The General who walked the talk

First, the news in refracted light. This is the book to read today because of the report and account of India’s last almost-war with Pakistan.

We are going through an ‘almost-war’ now, 24 years later, or not?

Lt Gen Rostum Kaikhushru Nanavatty was the General Officer Commanding the Northern Command (NC) during Operation Parakram, the full-scale mobilisation by the Indian (and Pakistani) military after the attack on Parliament in New Delhi on December 13, 2001. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister of the BJP-led NDA government, Brajesh Mishra was the National Security Adviser and General Sundararajan Padmanabhan was the Chief of Army Staff.

The offensive plan involved moving the 3 Corps deployed in India’s North-East to Jammu and Kashmir. Padmanabhan wanted the deployment in place by the end of December.

No can do, was what Nanavatty told him in so many words, according to the dramatic account of the events by the author, Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam, one the foremost military historians today.

In a delightful little story, while Padmanabhan (‘Paddy’) was being driven from the NC headquarters in Udhampur to the helipad after a briefing, he exclaimed to a subordinate: “Who does he think he is? Monty?” He was using the nickname for the British Field Marshal Montgomery, known for being meticulous and deliberate with planning for offensive action in World War-II.

There is more nuance than that of course in the re-telling of the developments, nuance that Subramaniam has brought out largely because Nanavatty kept meticulous notes of what he thought and felt almost throughout his career, that included postings to Sri Lanka, to the North-East, to the Siachen Glacier, to the Army Headquarters and to the US and British military education institutions.

In a nutshell, Nanavatty explained to his superior, Gen Padmanabhan, that while the 3 Corps was indeed the reserve strike force in his area of responsibility, the doctrine written for it could not be followed instantly because commanders and units had changed and would need to be oriented for the task.

That would take more than a fortnight.

He does indeed come up with a plan that would be adopted.

Reporters on the defence ‘beat’ at that time (including this reviewer) remember a cold and unquiet evening in South Block when there was a backgrounder on “punitive fire assaults” on the Line of Control that would continue till Operation (Op) Parakram was called off in November 2003.

Going beyond the leadership and strategy lessons of a studious “soldier’s General”, is also the selection of quotes by Subramaniam, headlining each chapter, that are resonant.

One from Lt Gen ML Chibber, a predecessor of Nanavatty (Rusty to his friends), shortly after he had taken over: “This old soldier sends his good wishes to you all to fight without hate or anger, with extraordinary courage and tenacious determination to win.”

Another by Nanavatty himself when he as a Major General commanded the Baramulla division: “Offensive Counter Anti National (CANE) Operations will be pursued against all militant groups without prejudice or discrimination, and the focus must be on pro-Pakistan militant groups.”

‘Shooting Straight’ maps the life and career of a General without being a hagiography, because it explores the contexts within which decisions were made and how they were reached. Rusty’s straight-talking may have cost him a post-retirement sinecure because he did not sugarcoat his opinion while dealing with politicians.

Subramaniam’s recounting of the family and the Parsi community’s standing is oriented to give an understanding of what went into the shaping of the soldier.

What usually passes for military biographies, of which there are few in India that are not sponsored by former chiefs or royals, are collections of anecdotes of the ‘humour in uniform’ kind that puts the protagonist on a pedestal. In this instance, it is through the protagonist that the author has brought out the churn that produces the ideas for the battlefield, whether they are executed or shot down.

This is a book for the times we survive in.

— The reviewer is a senior journalist

Book Review