Will we see another Sam Bahadur?

Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw

The biopic on Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, “ Sam Bahadur”, released some days ago has given the present generation a chance to remember the life and times of one of India’s finest soldiers. He had become a legend in his own lifetime. When you think of Sam Manekshaw, you are bound to talk about the India-Pakistan war of 1971. That was the war when he was leading the Indian Army from the front.

Pakistan’s Scourge

In his just released book – “As I saw it: A Reporter Recounts”, Mahendra Ved, a veteran journalist who had covered the 1971 war, writes: “His (Manekshaw) great sense of humour at times hurt him. A lady reporter asked him: ‘Sir, if you were leading the Pakistan army, who would have won the war?’ Manekshaw’s soldier-like, but undiplomatic, reply was: ‘Pakistan would have won the war!’ All hell broke loose. There were demands to strip him of the field marshal’s rank. Although made in jest, Sam stood by his reply.”

Manekshaw could be seen through many prisms. But one, long forgotten, is recorded by the late Ardeshir Cowasjee, a renowned Pakistani writer. A few years before he passed away, Cowasjee, recorded in his column: “Sam Bahadur became India's chief of army staff in 1969 and, as we in Pakistan must accept with heavy hearts, the highlight of his outstanding career was his resounding victory over the armed forces of Pakistan in 1971, when we lost East Pakistan to Bangladesh.”

Mahendra Ved also writes that a good friend of Manekshaw in Pakistan was Rangila Raja Gen Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan. “At the time of partition Major Manekshaw and Major Yahya Khan were together on the staff of Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck. Sam owned a red James motorcycle which Yahya had always had an eye on. He offered to buy it, and did, for the princely sum of Rs 1,000 which he promised to send over from Pakistan. Yahya, being Yahya, let it lapse. After the 1971 victory, Sam was heard to quip, ‘Yahya never paid me the Rs 1,000 for my motorbike, but now he has paid with half his country.’"

The establishment in Pakistan never forgave Manekshaw, even as India’s ignored him in his last days. Cowasji records: “Sam was buried quietly in his home in Tamil Nadu, a modest affair rather than the grand funeral he should have had in the capital, Delhi.” After leaving Delhi in mid-1975, Sam Bahadur hardly visited Delhi.

The Bangladesh Victory

Sam Manekshaw crafted India’s military victory in 1971 in a war that changed the world map. It was also one of the quickest, lasting no more than two weeks, and yet the most decisive. Bangladesh, a new nation, was born. India secured the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war at a rare public ceremony. The Indian Army also quit Bangladesh, precisely after three months, which was and remains a rarity if you read through military annals of any country, any time.

Popularly called “Sam Bahadur” because he was from the Gurkha Regiment, he treated the POWs of Pakistan decently, strictly following the Geneva Convention. Indian troops were asked to vacate their quarters for them and live in tents. According to Mahendra Ved, “The ( Pakistani) prisoners celebrated their festivals ( in India). Each soldier was given a copy of the Quran and gifts when he was repatriated.”

Post- 1971, Time magazine noted that the military campaign of a “Hindu” India was led by a Parsi. Its air force was led by a Brahmo, equivalent to a Hindu Protestant. The army’s Eastern Command that liberated Bangladesh had a Sikh chief, and the campaign was planned by a Jewish chief of staff.

It may be impossible today to repeat that feat; to have people of that calibre and the combination of those circumstances. There will not be another Indira Gandhi; another Manekshaw.

“Are you ready for a war? I am not,” Sam reportedly told the Prime Minister and her cabinet on April 27, 1971. He guaranteed them “cent percent defeat”. No one was pleased. But he explained the reasons why India should not hurry – among other things, preparations, inadequate funds and armaments and the time needed for troop movements. It would be unwise to fight a war during the monsoon in riverine East Pakistan. Wait for the winter, he told them.

He got eight months and total command of the operations. He promised “cent percent victory” this time and delivered.

In Service Of the Nation

Besides being Independent India’s first field marshal, a largely ceremonial post, he also had an extended tenure as the Army chief – nearly six years. He was reluctant, knowing that he could not continue without blocking promotions among the top brass.

Always conscious about maintaining civilian supremacy in the power structure, the political leadership, too, knew of the damage this could do to the army. Besides, Manekshaw enjoyed tremendous popularity at home and abroad.

Post-Independence, Manekshaw was involved in all major military operations. He planned the Kashmir Operations (1947-49) under direct orders from Jawaharlal Nehru and Home Minister Sardar Patel.

The 1962 war with China saw him salvaging the debacle created by the very superiors who had unfairly targeted him. Low morale and bad leadership, not bad fighting, had caused the defeat, he bluntly told Nehru.

He was critical of political leadership in private conversations, often being its victim. One of his memorable quips was: “I wonder whether those of our political masters who have been put in charge of the defence of the country can distinguish a mortar from a motor, a gun from a howitzer, a guerrilla from a gorilla – although a great many of them in the past have resembled the latter'.”

But Manekshaw had no political ambitions. A visiting American diplomat asked Sam when he was going to take over. Sam retorted: “As soon as General Westmoreland takes over in your country.”

While it remains to be seen whether the “Sam Bahadur” film stands the test of time, what is certain is that the feats and tales of the Field Marshal will continue to inspire the Indian army.

Vivek Shukla is a journalist who writes on Delhi's history and South Asian culture and politics. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.