BOOK REVIEW
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Too General By Far
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General J.J. Singh plays it safe in his memoirs
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General J.J.Singh
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By Ghazala Wahab
General Joginder Jaswant Singh has been bit of an oddity in the Indian military. While most Indian soldiers, irrespective of rank and service have been chary of the media, treating it as a necessary evil to be endured when completely unavoidable, Gen. JJ Singh, affectionately called Gen. JJ, has always courted the media fearlessly and with great enthusiasm.
As Chief of Army Staff (COAS) [and before that, as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Western Command], he seemed to believe that publicity was publicity — it was neither good nor bad. This is the reason that when even ordinary officers went into spasms of anxiety at the whiff of a ‘negative’ report, Gen. Singh remained unflappable. He had a penchant for issuing statements at the drop of the hat and making headlines every alternate day. That led the grand old man of Indian journalism Khushwant Singh, to write that if he didn’t stop talking, he’d end up being a source of more ‘Sardar’ jokes. So rattled was the
government of the day (used to mute chiefs), by his garrulousness, that
apparently, he was asked to talk less with the media.
Gen. Singh might have tried to curb his instincts. But how do you hide a
flamboyant personality? When he wasn’t speaking to the press, he was being
photographed at glamorous events like polo tournaments, with Page 3 regulars. It
wouldn’t be far-fetched to say he fashioned himself as something of a star.
Someone who’d walk into a room and immediately draw attention to himself,
whether intentionally or unintentionally. But there was never any doubt that he
wanted to be
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projected in a certain way. Within a couple of weeks of taking over as COAS, this correspondent was granted an interview with the General and his wife, becoming the first guest of the first couple in the Army House. Not only did they speak extensively about themselves, about Gen. Singh’s achievements, his war wound (in Kashmir), about adopting children and so on — post interview, his office even supplied family photographs for the story. It appeared in the March 2005 issue of FORCE. He was a refreshing change from his predecessor, who did away with even the traditional Army Day press conferences during his tenure. But then, there is something called too much of a good thing. Some would say Gen. JJ Singh spoke enough for his successors too — they all remained squeamish about the media. Except Gen. V.K. Singh, who went ballistic towards the end of his tenure.
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