Interview with Gen V K Singh on Anna’s visit to the US

Interview with Gen V K Singh on Anna’s visit to the US in August 2013

Question: Anna’s US visit

Answer: Anna was invited for the India Day Parade and events associated with it. During this period, he also utilized it to visit certain places, talking to the youth and some other people of Indian origin and tell them what is happening back home.

Question: When we received the schedule in advance, we were told that he would ring the bell in NASDAQ, go to the UN…

General V K Singh: These schedules are made by somebody in USA. I do not even know, if it was approved by Annaji. So do not go by the schedule. Basically it was the FIA event. Then there were few days so it was combined so that he can go and speak to the Indian community.

Question: Since you have been accompanying hi, what do you think has been his impression about diaspora and this country’s democratic system?

Gen V K Singh: He feels that the democratic system in this country is much more vibrant than what it is in India. And there is a fair amount of representation of the people in the system that takes place. It is a different system than a parliamentary democracy, but here a greater participation of the people is there. He did feel that way.

Question: You are one of the few generals who have joined the political mainstream

Answer: I have not joined politics. I am still with social causes.

Question: So what is the purpose behind joining Anna’s team or being part of team Anna? What do you want to achieve?

Answer: I am with Anna. There is no team. We are both in it together. We both are working in bringing about a systematic change, which will bring in democracy the way our constitution saw it. We want the constitution to be implemented in true sense of the letter and spirit in which it was written.

Question: But you know, in any democratic system, systematic change cannot be brought without being part of the electoral system. Anna is not contesting elections, what about you?

Answer: At the moment the whole campaign is bringing about the awareness among the people. We feel that if the voter is aware, he would vote for good people and not vote the way he has voted so far. So our campaign in India is also focused on that. We started our journey from Jaliawala Bagh, and we have been carrying on. We have done Punjab, we have done Haryana, we have done Madhya Pradesh, we have done portions of Rajasthan, we have done Uttar Pradesh. The next State that we will go to is Bihar. Then we will see whether we go East or South, so our aim is to go to the most (part) of the country and talk to people. And we are seeking volunteers who would carry this message in each village of India. We have 50,000 volunteers at the moment. When we go to other States, we will probably have even larger number.

Question: We have less than a year left for the next general elections. What kind of participation your team would have in the next general elections.

Answer: Our team has nothing to do with it. Our aim is very simple. Voters must choose good people so that we can bring about a positive change.

Question: Good people in any political parties?

Answer: All political parties are not composed of bad people only. There are lot of good people. And I am quite sure that if people say that our representatives are not the representatives of the political parties the system will change. There is a difference.

Question: And what about you, do you plan to contest elections?

Answer: I haven’t even thought of it so far. I am still working on this awareness mission.

Question: Do you think this awareness mission would be completed by next March-April?

Answer: I do not know. From our side, we are trying to reach out everywhere. Let’s see, how soon we can complete, because it is a huge task. It involves lot of logistics, involves a lot of people, we have to train our volunteers in between so that they can fan out to the villages.

Question: One small clarification I would like to ask you about news reports in some media outlets that you are planning to contest the next general elections on a BJP ticket from Rai Bareli. Is it true or not?

Answer: I do not know who is dreaming about it. At least I am not dreaming about it.

Question: So you had no talks with the BJP on this issue?

Answer: I do not know, from where these have come up. I think, India Today started but in my own mind, India Today’s credibility is very low. And we know, it is close to who all in the political establishment. So less said the better.

Question: So is this part of an effort to malign you?

Answer: I do not know. These days media in India is working in packages of each party. So I do not know, whose package this news emanated from.

Question: After you retired from the Army we have been seeing you in a new format. But you served the Indian Army for decades, building up the leadership. How do you see, the Indian Army as of now at a time when we are having incursions from China, we are having cross border firing from Pakistan.

Answer: The Indian Army is absolutely fine. But at the national level, you need to give greater attention to the armed forces. I do feel that the awareness and the attention on armed forces is less than what it should be.

Question: What kind of..

Answer: All kinds of things are there.

Question: Budget?

Answer: Budget is a minor thing. If you have attention and focus, automatically budget would come and automatically rest of the things would improve. There has to be greater focus from the point of view of the politico-administrative nexus that prevails in keeping the armed forces away in decision making. Things go wrong. National security is not just to be decided by one, two, three people. It must have all the inputs and it must have inputs from the security forces of India.

Question: I do cover here the Pentagon, from where I get the feeling that the Indian system is not compatible today with the US system. Indian system do not have Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who works on a permanent basis like a two years term, and that makes it a little bit difficult…

Answer: See that is already part of the Kargil report. But there is a great amount of dragging of feet by the political and the babu set up. That’s why I said, you got to look at things not from political lenses or administrative lenses. There has been a great effort in our country right from the time we became independent to keep the armed forces in an area where they can be pressurized, they can be demoted, their prestige effected, everything and it is deliberately done. Because I think, in some quarters there is a feeling that armed forces should not be given due importance.

Question: Why is it.. because of the fear they have?

Answer: That fear is totally misfounded. Nothing has happened in the last 60 years and nothing will happen in the next 60 years. But it is basic rivalry or the desire of the IAS lobby to remain over and above everybody. And let me tell you, people who come to the armed forces are much more hardworking and better than them.

Question: Is that approach is affecting the national security?

Answer: (Yes) it is.

Question: Can you give us some instances.

Answer: We are not part of the decision making apparatus. There are no inputs (from the Army). If the input is going through the defense secretary, he does understand. The Kargil committee recommendations are yet to be implemented. So obviously there is a neglect. Like it said, we require a permanent person. One point contact is not there. There is a great amount of effort that is made to instigate one service against another service so that they can keep fighting amongst each other. That approach is not there which contributes towards building a force structure that would be better.

Question: What do you make out of the increasing border incursions by the Chinese and LoC firings by the Pak forces?

Answer: See as far as the line of control with Pakistan is concerned, it has its own dynamics, a lot of things happen. But along with it, it is also a question of what kind of messages you convey. If the messages you convey, OK you can do what you want to, but we are not going to react to it then he will keep doing more things. Everybody knows that Pakistan is waging a proxy war against us and if the terrorists are not able to infiltrate and they do other things along the line of control then a much stronger message is required. Whereas China is concerned, China respects strength and strong will. If you try to adopt policies, which were adopted in 1950s then you are going to land up in trouble.

Question: So you mean to say, we need to give strong response to what China is doing now?

Answer: At the governmental level there has to be much stronger response. Then only people will realize as to why a thing should be done, or should not be done.

Question: On India US defense relationship. What kind of relationship do you visualize, recommend?

Answer: See there is a great amount of progress that can be made in the defense co-operation between the two countries. There are minor issues that need to be ironed out. And given the will from both the sides they can ironed out. One of the problems, which I think, the US finds is that there are a lot of areas which require military to military talks, but the Indian system only permits a babu to a US military talk. So they both turkey to each other. They do not understand each other. It becomes a dialogue of the deft. That has to be shorted out. There is a great amount of co-operation that can be made in the field of technology. There is a great amount of co-operation that can be worked out as joint venture between the two to upgrade capabilities if the US thinks that India is a friend and a focal point for it in Asia. If you look at the policies, it is looked at it from that point of view some time back. But that now has to be converted into something concrete action.

Question: Do you think, there is some kind of restrain by the Center towards increasing defense to defense ties between India and the US?

Answer: I really do not know. I think, everything in India is hampered by how the babus see things. If for example if somebody is visiting the US and the visit gets cleared only at the 11th hour, what are you going to gain out of it. May be that person would not even come here. There has to be much more, much more that can be done.

Question: In the last 10 years we have increased our defense trade from zero to 10 billion. How do you visualize the next 10 years.

Answer: Trade is dependent on both the sides in how much you are going to give and the other side is going to take. India is looking at technology, not looking at hardware. It has got great capabilities, especially the private sector in India to manufacture anything, provided the technology is available. I think there is some reservations in the US on sharing this technology with India. I think it is for mutual advantage of both the countries.

Question: What is your wish list for technologies from the US.

Answer: All kinds. I can list from A to Z. A lit of things. US is the hub of technology. I am quite sure, there is so much that can be shared in the armament, aviation and naval sector that it can ensure great economic benefit to the US as well as technological benefit to India.