No Character Certificate required for His Excellency Gen SF Rodrigues

Dear friends,
I am replying to this because my views have been sought. I have very high regards for His Excellency Gen Rodrigues as he has been a great general, a thorough gentleman and now a proven epitome of excellence as a truly apolitical Governor and an Administrator par excellence. The allegations and mud-slinging aimed at him is, however, not something in which he would need external support to fight and defend himself. In corruption ridden Indian polity today these are the inevitable concomitants of public life. A blot on a clean white shirt strikes the eye sharply. That's why incredible stories and scandals make striking headlines and sell well in the media.

Nevertheless, the accompanying mails are overly emotional. Giving character certificates to personalities like Gen Rodrigues is actually dwarfing his stature. Such emotional outbursts serve little purpose - nay, they antagonise the right thinking people and make them suspect our credentials.

As a trend seen in the recent past, almost all of our communications seem to be focused against the IAS, Babus or Bureaucrats. Unfortunately, in blaming them for all our problems, we do not make exceptions for even those who are a good lot among them. The truth is that, although their number is small, but there are good, honest and laudable Babus in India too. There have been a number of whistle blowers among the bureaucrats who have not bothered about their career and, in some cases, even risked their life. In UP, it is because of a good lot of bureaucrats that the black sheep within their own flock have been listed and exposed on the Internet.

Goodness is always in short supply. This is true of humans as well - be they bureaucrats, policemen, politicians and - let's face it - even soldiers! We know it there are good officers and bad officers in the Armed Forces. Fortunately, however, our judicial dispensation system is such that the 'bad' are sorted out well and proper faster than their likes in civil services. Despite this, there are often embarrassing aberrations involving even some very senior military officers.

Somehow, we have become too touchy. Any criticism, comment or a joke in the media is enough to put us off. One sees a spate of letters to the 'erring' Newspaper editors reprimanding them for their audacity to raise a finger at us! We make a laughing stock of ourselves! The nation holds us in high esteem even today. But of late we are seen only talking about ourselves and not for the serious problems they expect us to rise and speak up. National security, corruption, terrorism, widening communal/ regional divde, increasing number of criminals into Lok Sabha and state legislatures (they were 123 in the previous Lok Sabha, now they are more han 150 of whom 73 are with serious charges!). The day these issues are addressed, all problems of ESM would be solved and SOLDIERY will redeem its lost sheen and honour.

We write a lot of English loaded with unseemly anger and abuse hurled on the entire lot of bureaucrats from time to time. This time it involves a high dignitary (Gen Rodrigues) but without touching any facts of the case or issues involved. By raising the decibel level and kicking up a lot of dust achieves nothing good for us or for His Excellency. On the contrary, our outbursts might be embarrassing him. It is not only unnecessary but also goes to lower our credibility as responsible citizens imbued with integrity and fair-play.

I wish Gen Rodrigues a great innings full of honour and esteem as Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh.

I request you all, my friends, to avoid muddying the matters any further. I hope I have not stepped on some one's toes. If so, I tender my apologies.

Regards,
Col Karan Kharb (Retd)

When overcharged with emotion, we run the risk of missing our focus - OROP and other demands for the ESM.