Bhopal: India’s loss in the Indo-China War in 1962 was not because of failure of the army, but due to the top political leadership. An author and filmmaker Shiv Kunal Verma was speaking on Monday- the concluding day of three-day ‘Bhopal Literature &Art Festival’ at Bharat Bhawan.
A discussion on Verma’s book ‘1962, the War that Wasn’t’ was held as part of the fest. He had conversation with Brig. Sanjay Agrawal on the book. The book is compilation of interviews of the soldiers and witness of the war. About the book, Shiv Kunal Verma said, “Writing book about defeat is always difficult.
This book is not only about military but also political and bureaucratic aspects of the war. I have spent three years research for the book. Reporting war is difficult because those involved are in combat and their recollection of what happened often depends on their perception. So, everyone has different things to say about the same events.”
He said that he was 30-years-old when his father who was colonel led a battalion in Indo-China war. In the first hour of the war, we lost 281 men, he said. The author further said, “A combination of the factors led to the war and these factors included emergence of a communist China. How difficult it was to set up army outpost in Ladakh is the evident by the fact that the army used 100 yaks and mules to carry the equipments and 99 of them died,” adding that “the preparation to lead with Chinese aggression was excellent at the ground level but the fault was held at higher level.”
“The top political leadership ignored professional advised from the army tampered with the command and control structure of the army and indulged in favourtism,” the filmmaker added. In a question and answer session, an audience asked that what can be done to make the people aware of the war, the author said that the detail should be taken to the student of schools and colleges.
