Page 252 - Leadership in the Indian Army

Shortly thereafter, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who, as President of India was
also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, summoned the DMI
for a briefing on the incident. While he was briefing the President at

Rashtrapati Bhawan, Prem also apprised him of the assessment he had
made in his appreciation. After the briefing, the President told him to give a
similar briefing to the Prime Minister. But when Prem approached the
Ministry of Defence for an appointment, Krishna Menon expressed his
displeasure and turned him down.
In May 1961, Thimayya retired and was succeeded by P.N. Thapar as
COAS. ‘Bogey’ Sen was sent to Eastern Command as GOC-in-C, and Kaul

replaced him as CGS. Prem was lucky enough to be nominated for the
National Defence College (NDC) course, which was to commence in June
1961. The NDC had been established in April 1960, and Prem was to
undergo the second course. Had he not been nominated for the course, it is
doubtful if he would have survived in the army with Kaul as his new boss.
He was not one of the ‘Kaul boys’—a term coined by Sam Manekshaw for

officers who were members of Kaul’s ‘court’—and his reluctance to attend
the ‘durbars’ held at Kaul’s residence would soon have put paid to his
future in the army.
In May 1962, when he had completed the NDC course, Prem was posted
as Commandant of the IMA at Dehradun. When the Chinese attacked India
in October that year, Prem was at Dehradun. In fact, in spite of his war
experience, Prem missed all the major action after Independence. In 1962,

he was the Commandant of the IMA. In 1965, he was commanding 9
Infantry Division, but it did not take part in the battle. In 1971, he was the
Army Commander at Lucknow, and again missed the show since the
Central Army was not directly involved in the war.
During Prem’s tenure at the IMA, several memorable events took place.
In the wake of the Chinese invasion, there was a massive increase in the

intake of officers. The duration of training for the cadets already in the IMA
was curtailed, and emergency commissions were introduced. The strength
of the regular courses was also substantially increased. From 720, the
number of cadets increased to 1,800 within a year. This necessitated the
construction of new facilities, such as classrooms, lecture halls, firing
ranges, obstacle courses, living accommodations, and dining halls. Prem
had his hands full, supervising the new projects. But when Army HQ

proposed that the training period of regular officers at the IMA be shortened