Reality of Barkha Dutt - Need to be shared massively.
Jay Bhattacharjee writes an open letter to
former Army chief General Malik who led the
army in 1999 during the Kargil war.
General V.P. Malik (Retd.)PVSM, AVSM,
ADCFormer Chief of Army Staff Panchkula
(Haryana)
Dear General Malik : 23 February 2016
Sir, please allow me to state upfront, that I
have been (and will continue to be) one of
your admirers for a number of reasons. The
first one, of course, is that, from Sept.1997 to
Sept.2000, you commanded a 1.4 million strong
Army that has protected and guarded our
young Republic (which is, at the same time, an
ancient and venerable civilisation) with the
utmost commitment, valour and loyalty. For
almost the entire Indian population (barring a
minuscule minority), the nation’s armed forces are the most admired and venerated institution by a thousand miles (please pardon the hyperbole). No other institution comes
anywhere remotely close, in this contest.
The other reasons are personal. You have a
natural dignity, composure sang froid, and
articulateness that are exemplary. Truly
befitting a military leader. Then, of course, it is
a matter of record that you led the Army to
resounding victory (at an incredible cost) in a
war that had everything stacked against it.
This does not take away the magnificent
contribution of our air warriors, the men in
blue, who carried out very difficult operations
to support their OG comrades. Your famous
statement that the armed forces would do their best with whatever equipment and resources they had at their disposal, is still etched in my mind and brings back painful memories when I think of the Kargil war.
However, the reason why I am penning this
letter to you is because of certain developments
that are not of your doing. The provocation is
the “open” letter sent a few days ago by a
prominent Indian journalist, Barkha Dutt, to
the Prime Minister. The communication has
been uploaded on the internet portal of the
media house where Ms. Dutt works (http://
www.ndtv.com/opinion/a-letter-to-pm-modi-
from-anti-national-sickular-presstitute-barkha-
dutt-1279441).
As you can see, the title of this article is
deliberately provocative and eye-catching.
Nothing wrong in this, per se, since the media
in our shores and in other countries derives its
bread and butter from self-generated
publicity,whether in the form of TRPs for TV
programmes or the number of “likes” /
“shares” for a written piece. However, the
latest salvo of Ms. Dutt (BD) needs to be closely
scrutinised and assessed. Please permit me,
dear General, to spell out the broader concerns
I have with this piece, before I come to the
thrust of my letter to you.
.It is a matter of enormous mystery to me (and
countless others) how BD and her employer
company have survived, let alone prospered. If
you remember, and I am sure you do, the
episode of the Nira Radia tapes and how BD
and her shenanigans were mercilessly exposed,
you will surely ask yourself how this person
continues in public life. In any other civilized,
democratic country, she would have been hung
out to dry and banished to the 4th Estate’s
version of Siberia, to live in oblivion. In fact,
BD’s shameless shenanigans were briefly
featured in a crudely-crafted “apology” on her
own channel and she was seamlessly
“rehabilitated” in her job, where she continues
till today. If anything, she has prospered and
flourished, and her amour-propre has gone up
in geometric progression. It is only in good old
Bharat (and in some tin-pot banana Republics
like North Korea, Haiti and some Islamic
dictatorships) that miracles like this happen.
The present essay by BD fits squarely in her
trademark mould. Using all the tricks that her
profession has taught her, she projects herself
as a fearless defender of civil rights, free
speech, right to dissent etc. The backdrop for
her article is the JNU saga and all its nuances. I
am not going into the intricacies of her piece in
this letter to you, since I believe the prime
Minister and his colleagues are quite capable
of rebutting BD’s disingenuousness and
intellectual sleights of hand. Because, I now
propose to come to the reason why I am
writing to you and why I need you to respond.
Mea culpa for the rather longish preface, but I
am sure you will pardon me.
What bothers me deeply is that, in this latest
brouhaha, BD, once again, has projected her
“veer senani” image of a fearless warrior and
admirer of the country’s armed forces. Her
purple prose would have you believe that her
Kargil experience in 1999 “and the intimacy
and immediacy of that overwhelming exposure
would make me a life-long admirer of our
military. “ In fact, BD gives the distinct
impression in her epistle to the PM that she
layed a vital role in the entire Kargil war. She
compounds her crime when she extols herself
in her latest book, This Unquiet Land – Stories
From India’s Fault Lines (2016) and involves
you directly. She, as is her wont, goes on the
attack fearlessly and takes the figurative bull
by the horns. This is where you come in
directly, dear General.
BD, on page iv of this book, refers to the
“venomous whispers” about her conduct when
she was covering the Kargil war and claims
that when you gave her an appointment after
the war, you complimented her about her
performance and even said that she (BD) was a
“force-multiplier”. As far as her use of a
satellite phone (an Iridium instrument) was
concerned, she quotes you as telling her that
others (including some persons in the Army)
had the same satellite phones and more
importantly, the Pakistani military did not have
the capability of monitoring these satellite
phones. She puts you in the centre podium by
claiming that you have confirmed this
conversation with her in your own memoirs of
the Kargil war.
This puts the whole thing in a new perspective.
The fact is that all sources verify that BD was
the only journalist in the war zone who had a
satellite phone. Also, the number of satellite
phones with the Indian army was limited to a
few senior-most officers who were not in the
conflict zone. Therefore, the chances of BD’s
satphone being the one tracked by the
Pakistanis are very high. The errors of
commission and omission, of which BD is
accused of, are extremely serious. After the Dy.
Brigade Commander at Drass, Colonel David,
briefed BD on the progress of the actual
assault on Tiger Hill, BD is reported to have
gone live immediately. Indian intercepts of
Pakistani military messages indicate that the
Pakistani rear commanders immediately
alerted their troops on top of Tiger Hill to
redirect .their fire in the direction of the
Indian soldiers who were climbing Tiger Hill.
About 14-20 of our soldiers were massacred by
this deadly fire and died on the ropes they
were using to climb their target.
There is another incident pertaining to BD that
has been talked about for years. When doing a
recording outside the Brigade HQ gate, her
cameraman switched on a light fitted on the
camera to illuminate her – helmet, mike and
all. This was the trademark image of BD that
she and her employers mercilessly capitalised
on for many years after the war. A few
seconds later, having said that she was
reporting from 56 Brigade HQ, BD and her
team moved out. After about five minutes or
so, Pakistani artillery saturated the area with a
barrage, after having got a fix on the light. A
small STD booth at the gate took a direct hit,
killing an officer and three jawans from 17
Garhwal Rifles, who were present there at the
time.
I am reproducing all the old reports, because
they have not been satisfactorily explained.
Neither have they been investigated with the
seriousness and rigour that were called for. As
a result, BD has got away scot free and, worse,
projected herself in a light that may not be
accurate at all. Do not forget, General, that the
Kargil war was her launch pad. And I am
afraid, you have not been altogether kosher
with the Indian public, your comrades in the
army and your conscience. You have not
seriously investigated the reported offences
and misdemeanours of BD. To start with, when
on the 6th July 1999, our Army intercepted the
conversations between Pakistani troops dug in
at Tiger Hill and their rear HQ, you were
furious with NDTV and BD. You immediately
directed XV Corps HQ to issue a signal asking
the entire press corps to leave the region.
As it transpired, this blanket order was quietly
withdrawn a few hours later because of Lt
General Arjun Ray (in charge of the Army’s
media cell) who persuaded you not to penalise
the entire press corps because of BD’s crime.
You and the Army took no action against BD. A
year after the war, when NDTV went into
overdrive about their Kargil coverage, you and
the Army again kept quiet. This omerta
continues till today, even when BD refers to
your accolades about her in her latest (2016)
book. You, clearly are not the only one
responsible for the relentless rise of BD. Your
Army comrade Mohinder Puri, too, did not
hesitate to seek encomiums from BD at his
book release function. Neither can Shiv Kunal
Verma, from an old .military family, resist the
temptation to have BD as one of the chief
invitees at his book launch.
Dear General, as an officer of the Sikh Light
Infantry, you are surely aware of Guru Gobind
Singh’s prayer to Lord Shiv when he seeks the
courage to do the right thing :
Dehi Shiva Bar Mohe Ihe, Shubh Karman Se
Kabhun Na Taron.Na Daron Ari Son Jab Jai
Laron,Nischey Kar Apni Jeet Karon.(O God
Shiva, give me this boon,That I never desist
from doing good deedsI be fearless when I
fight the enemyAnd that I certainly attain
victory)
As a son-in-law of the Punjab, it is my honour
to invoke Guru Gobind Singh. But, finally, I
have to conclude with Gurudev’s words, since
BD has had the chutzpah to quote Tagore in
her letter to the PM. The last Renaissance figure the world has seen, says it all about doing the right thing in life :
অন্যায় যে করে আর অন্যায় যে সহে
তব ঘৃণা যেন তারে তৃণসম দহে।
(The one who commits a wrong and the one
who tolerates wrong- doing, may they both be
engulfed by the fire of your contempt)
- Jay Bhattacharjee MA(Cantab), FCSAdvisor
(Corporate Laws & Finance)
