Page 317 - Leadership in the Indian Army

Nagaland, where insurgency had become a serious problem. His previous
experience in Eastern Command, as well as the fact that Sam Manekshaw
was still the Army Commander, probably played a part in his appointment.

Soon after the announcement of his appointment as COAS, Sam came to
Nagaland on a farewell visit. He told Bakshi, perhaps in lighter vein, that
Brigadier (later Lieutenant General) S.K. Sinha, who was commanding 71
Brigade, had reached his limit, and had not acquitted himself well as a
brigade commander. He hoped that Bakshi would duly reflect this in
Sinha’s Annual Confidential Report. Bakshi replied that on the basis of
performance, he considered Sinha to be the best brigade commander among

the six he had in his division. As the reviewing officer, Manekshaw could
always disagree with Bakshi’s assessment and write whatever he liked in
Sinha’s report. Manekshaw smiled and said that Bakshi was showing his
regimental loyalty, since he and Sinha were from the same regiment. Bakshi
replied that it was not a question of loyalty but of conscience. Sam was
soon to take over as the Army Chief, but this did not deter Bakshi from

expressing his views, even though he knew that they were contrary to those
of the Chief designate. Fortunately, Sam admired men who had the courage
to speak their minds, and did not take it amiss.
Bakshi was a strict disciplinarian and ensured that the troops maintained
the highest standards of behaviour, especially with the local population. He
also did not believe in the adage that the end justifies the means, and had
given strict orders that atrocities would not be tolerated, even against

insurgents. There was an incident in a battalion that was part of Sinha’s
brigade, involving the death of two Nagas in custody, during interrogation.
Initially, the battalion denied the allegations, and the Brigade HQ supported
them. But Bakshi was not convinced and ordered an independent inquiry by
one of the other brigade commanders. He had been an instructor at the
Academy when the CO of the battalion was a cadet, and he was soon able

to get the truth out of him. One of the company commanders, in a bid to
impress his CO and notch up a high score in captured weapons, had picked
up the two Nagas, who were suspected to be hostiles. Based on the advice
of a JCO, who claimed to have supernatural powers, he had tortured them to
elicit information about hidden weapons. In the process, the two suspects
died and their bodies were disposed of.
When the truth came out, Bakshi was very upset and conveyed his

displeasure to Sinha, who had been badly let down by one of his battalions.