General Sundarji dead

NEW DELHI, Feb 8 (PTI) — Former Chief of the Army Staff Krishnaswami Sundarji, who headed the Indian Army during a politically turbulent period marked by a bitter Bofors gun deal controversy, died here tonight after a prolonged illness, a Defence Ministry official said.

Sixtynine-year-old Sundarji, celebrated as "thinking General" was the Army Chief from January 31, 1986, to April 30, 1988. He was afflicted by an ailment of the nervous system and had been hospitalised here since March last year.

He is survived by his wife and a son.

General Sundarji’s body will lie in state tomorrow and the cremation would be held at the Brar Square crematorium on February 10, the official said.

Handsome with high cheekbones and a pugnacious jaw, General Sundarji with his cap worn at a rakish angle, fitted the glamorous image of the soldier.

He was the officer in charge of the controversial Operation Bluestar in June, 1984.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee, which probed the alleged kickbacks in the Rs 1500-crore Bofors gun deal after it came to light in April, 1987, also examined General Sundarji who certified to the quality of the guns.

Perhaps the most articulate General after Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw, General Sundarji guided and conducted post-Independent India’s largest military exercise, codenamed Operation Brasstacks, in the Indo-Pakistan border in Rajasthan towards the end of his tenure.

He was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command under whose jurisdiction the politically sensitive Operation Bluestar was carried out to flush out Sikh militants holed up in the Golden Temple at Amritsar.

Born on April 28, 1930, at Chengelput in Tamil Nadu, General Sundarji had a distinguished academic record as well, having done M.A. and M.Sc. after joining the Army in 1945 at the young age of 17.

Commissioned in the Mahar Regiment in 1946, General Sundarji was a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, USA, and the National Defence College. He held an M.A. degree in international studies from Allahabad University and an M.Sc. degree in defence studies from Madras University.

General Sundarji saw action in the North-West Frontier of Undivided India and later on in Jammu and Kashmir.

After graduating from Wellington, Sundarji held various Command and Staff Appointments, including that of Chief of the Staff, Katanga Command, and took part in combat as part of the UN forces in the troubled African state of Congo. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his distinguished service.

General Sundarji took over the command of an infantry battalion in 1963 and saw action in the plains during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

During the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, Sundarji was Brigadier General Staff of a corps in the eastern theatre and made valuable contribution in operations culminating in the liberation of erstwhile East Pakistan into Bangladesh.

In March, 1974, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General and took over command of an infantry division in the plains.

Sundarji became the Deputy Chief of the Army in August 1981 and threw himself to Army’s modernisation activities.

Taking over as GOC-in-C, Western Command, Sundarji was elevated to the Army’s top post in January 1986 after the retirement of Gen A.S. Vaidya.