Gen MM Naravane, who was the Army chief at the time of the August 2020 India-China Ladakh standoff, has revealed that he was asked by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to do "whatever" he deemed fit to tackle with the sensitive situation.
Recalling the night of August 31, 2020, Gen MM Naravane, in his memoir 'Four Stars of Destiny', highlighted Rajnath Singh's direction as well as a flurry of phone calls between the defence minister, external affairs minister, the national security advisor and the chief of defence staff.
"Jo ucchit samjho woh karo [Do whatever you deem appropriate]", this is what Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the then Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on the night of August 31, 2020, after the tense situation which was triggered by Chinese PLA moving tanks and troops in Rechin La mountain pass on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
After Singh's call, Naravane says a hundred different thoughts "flashed through" his mind. "I conveyed the criticality of the situation to the RM [Raksha Mantri], who said he would get back to me, which he did, by about 2230 hours," Naravane wrote.
"He said that he had spoken to the PM and that it was purely a military decision. 'Jo ucchit samjho woh karo' (Do whatever you deem is appropriate)... I had been handed a hot potato. With this carte blanche, the onus was now totally on me. I took a deep breath and sat silently for a few minutes. All was quiet save for the ticking of the wall clock," news agency PTI quoted lines from Naravane's memoir.
Naravane revealed in the memoir that he was in his den at Army House with the map of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on one wall and the Eastern Command on another. "They were unmarked maps, but as I looked at them, I could visualise the location of each and every unit and formation. We were ready in all respects, but did I really want to start a war?" Naravane wrote.
Recouting his thought process that night, Naravane wrote in the memoir that the he was considering whether in case of a "long-drawn-out action", will a steady supply of spares etc., be ensure amid faltering economy and broken down global supply chains.
"The country was in bad shape, reeling under the Covid pandemic. The economy was faltering, global supply chains had broken down. Would we be able to ensure a steady supply of spares, etc., under these conditions, in case of a long-drawn-out action?" Naravane wrote.
"Who were our supporters in the global arena, and what about the collusive threat from China and Pakistan? A hundred different thoughts flashed through my mind," he wrote.
