It ill behoves a former Army Chief to be embroiled in so many controversies. People who hold key positions in the highest echelons of national service must be dignified in retirement, and choose to either pursue academic interests or write books on strategic matters. For someone who retired from the Army under a cloud concerning his date of birth and age, Gen. V.K. Singh is trying to wear his honesty as a badge and badger the government on issues that should not have come into the public domain in the first place.
It is his own doing that has invited criminal proceedings by the Supreme Court. V.K. Singh had withdrawn the case regarding his age, but wrote in a newspaper on Monday that the court had not gone into the merits of the arguments that he had presented during the proceedings. For him now to draw comparisons by raking up court rulings on the age of the minor in the New Delhi gangrape case and his own disputed age is embarrassing beyond words. Potshots and snide remarks are below the dignity of an officer and a gentleman.
The retired general’s revelations about secret funds that nations use to pursue supra-national interests were also way too political. Unless he is preparing to plunge full time into the rough and tumble of politics, the former chief should have been wary of stepping on the toes of the establishment. Whatever the grudge that he holds for having possibly lost a year of service due to a technical error, he should have taken it on the chin like a good soldier.