Page 279 - Leadership in the Indian Army

the fighting capabilities of the soldiers, it is the quality of leadership that
tilts the balance in a war.
By the middle of June 1962, 50 Para Brigade was back in Agra. One day,

Sagat was at the Clarkes Shiraz Hotel in civilian clothes. Also present was a
group of American tourists, who kept looking at him intently. Finally, one
of them came up to him and asked him if he was Brigadier Singh. Sagat
said yes, and then asked the American how he had recognised him. The
American replied that they had recently visited Portugal, where they had
seen his photograph in several cafes and restaurants, with the caption that
anyone who would capture and hand him over to the Portuguese

government would be rewarded $10,000. Sagat had a hearty laugh and
offered to be captured, but the Americans declined, saying that they were
not going back to Lisbon.
While Operation VIJAY was a full-fledged military operation for the
participating troops, the Indian government called it a police action. Several
officers, including Sagat, were recommended for gallantry awards, but

Krishna Menon, who was the Defence Minister, ruled that since it was a
police action, no awards could be given. Of course, no one was fooled.
Many years later, when Sagat was commanding 4 Corps, B.K. Nehru, who
was then Governor of Assam, told him an interesting story. In 1961, Nehru
was the Indian Ambassador in Washington. After the liberation of Goa, he
met President Kennedy to explain the circumstances that had forced the
Indian government to undertake the operation. Kennedy told Nehru that he

understood that India had to do what it did for geo-political reasons. What
he did not understand was the manner in which the Indian government tried
to justify a military operation as a police action, and at the same time kept
preaching non-violence to all and sundry. He laughed, and said that it was
like a priest being caught in a brothel.
In January 1964, Sagat handed over command of 50 Para Brigade to

Brigadier A.M.M. Nambiar, and proceeded to attend the fourth course at the
National Defence College in Delhi. After a year on the course, he was
posted as Brigadier General Staff 11 Corps in January 1965. He had served
in this appointment for barely six months when, in July 1965, he was
promoted Major General, and replaced Major General Har Prasad as GOC
17 Mountain Division. The division was then in Sikkim, and soon after he
took over, there was a crisis. In order to help Pakistan during the 1965 war,

the Chinese had served an ultimatum, demanding that the Indians withdraw