Act 1. On March 15, 2011, after a successful ‘Know Your Army’ show in Ahmedabad, where then Chief Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Guest, I, as the General Officer Commanding, was on top of the world as I took a flight for Pune for an operational discussion to be chaired by the Army Commander. Little did I know that by the time I land in Pune, I will be on all the headlines of various news channels. I had praised Mr Modi and said that he operates like an Army commander; sets targets and timelines and achieves them in record time. I was widely criticised by one and all, as I had praised a politician of the opposition party in the Centre.

My Corps Commander and the Army Commander took it in their stride and felt that I had extended normal courtesies to a chief guest of a civil-military mega event. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) wanted a report on it and then Chief of the Army Staff General VK Singh told his staff to give a routine reply to say that an inquiry was underway and the outcome would be shared with the MoD.

Good friends in Delhi later shared with me that some of my batch mates were happy........

© News18