Page 175 - Leadership in the Indian Army

days, Sam met Sardar Patel almost daily and he has many reminiscences
about the ‘iron man’.
One day, Sam was called by the C-in-C and told to fly down to Calcutta,

where fierce riots had caused thousands of deaths. Sam flew to Calcutta in a
special aircraft and went to the Chief Minister’s office. Sardar Patel was
already there, discussing the situation with B.C. Roy, the Chief Minister of
Bengal. Patel asked Sam: ‘If the situation is handed over to the Army, how
many people will be killed, and how long will it take to control the
situation?’ Sam was a newly promoted Brigadier and took a few seconds to
answer. ‘About a hundred men will be killed and it will take about a

month,’ he said.
Patel told B.C. Roy: ‘Thousands are being killed now. A hundred is
nothing.’ He turned to Sam and said: ‘Let the Army take over.’ Troops were
immediately deployed and the situation was soon under control. Not a
single person was killed. When things had returned to normal, Patel called
Sam and, speaking in Gujarati, asked him; ‘Why didn’t you tell me the

truth?’ Sam was nonplussed, till Patel smiled and said: ‘You said you would
kill one hundred Bengalis, but you did not kill even one.’ He patted Sam on
the back and congratulated the Army for doing a good job.
There is an interesting anecdote regarding Sam, which was related by
Colonel Teja Singh Aulakh, who had joined MO as a Captain in May 1947.
Teja’s village, Narowal, went to Pakistan after Partition and he had
therefore opted for the Pakistani Army. Sam had also been asked for his

choice, and though Jinnah had asked him to opt for Pakistan, he had opted
for India. He had been born and brought up in Punjab, but his wife and the
rest of the family were in Bombay. Acceding to Jinnah’s request may have
resulted in faster promotions, but he preferred to remain in India. When the
records were being divided, Sam had asked Teja to collect all the files he
wanted to take with him to Pakistan. However, just before he moved, Teja

came to know that his family had crossed over at Dera Baba Nanak and
come to India. He promptly changed his choice, and opted to remain in
India. His family later joined him in Delhi and they were living in
Chattarpur, a village near the Qutb Minar, about 10 kilometres from his
office in South Block. Teja used a bicycle to commute between his home
and office and was often late. He was subsequently promoted Major and
Sam had by then become a Brigadier. One day, there was a lot of work and

they broke off at about 8 p.m. Silloo brought around the car to pick up Sam.