Page 7 - Seniorstoday November 2021 Issue

girl, was indulging in an amorous dalliance disturbed PM. She soon revealed the cause
with her, whilst unknown to him, outraged
tribesmen had surrounded his hut and
were baying for his life. Word of this
standoff reached battalion headquarters
and the commanding officer organized
action to rescue the subaltern. Command
HQ was alerted and although the situation
was diffused, the matter got reported all
the way up to Army HQ! A month later,
when visiting the post Sam met the young
lieutenant who thought he had it coming,
but Sam’s only comment was, ‘Boy, you had
my whole Eastern Army at ‘stand to’, I hope
she was worth it!’
The Army Chief in the driver’s seat
Sam had a way with words and his sense
of humour could diffuse tense situations.
The then Prime Minister, Mrs Indira
Gandhi, asked him to come to her office
immediately. It was 4 pm and Sam said
he would be there as soon as he’d had
downed his cuppa tea! She jokingly asked
if he thought the PMO had no tea to offer,
to which he replied without hesitation
that the ‘chai’ his Gurkhas made was
far superior to the PMO’s ‘chai’! But, of
course, he went immediately to find a very
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #29 | NOVEMBER 2021
of her discomfort was he. Members of her
cabinet had been cautioning her that his
popularity in the armed forces and on Main
Street made him a likely candidate to pull
the rug from under her feet by launching
a coup. That’s when he stretched across
the table and told her that although his
nose was longer than hers, he’d keep it out
of her business as long as she gave him
her word that she would keep hers out
of his. Mrs Gandhi was reassured. After
that he commanded his army without let
or hindrance. He was able to plan and
execute the 1971 Op without hindrance
and make it a resounding success. While
he had excellent rapport with the PM, he
was always correct and addressed her as
‘Madam PM’, never as ‘sweetie’. He did
pay her compliments, like the time when
she returned home after attending Charles
de Gaulle’s funeral in Paris. He was at
Palam Airport to receive her along with
her Cabinet when he leaned close and
complimented her ‘chic’ haircut. She broke
into a smile and whispered back that he
was the only man that had noticed! This
closeness to the PM had some politicians
very uneasy, especially Defence Minister,
Babu Jagjivan Ram who, with some
justification, felt by-passed, especially
during the build-up to the War.
The build-up to the war began in 1970
with the refusal of West Pakistan and
Bhutto’s PPP to acknowledge the victory of
the Awami League in the federal elections.
How could a Bengali, Sheikh Mujibur
Rehman, govern Pakistan? Culture and
ethnicity trumped religion and the country
was in turmoil. In March 1971, West
Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight
and rounded up thousands of intellectuals
and dissidents in E. Pakistan and butchered
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