“I don't want to know what happened in the past. All I want to know is who are my commanders, where are the Chinese, how much ammunition have I got...”
The life and career of Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw was as illustrious as his name. Back in 2002, interviewed by his own grandson for a documentary, this is how he recounted his days of glory.
Thanks to Parzor Foundation for the footage.
The life and career of Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw was as illustrious as his name. Back in 2002, interviewed by his own grandson for a documentary, this is how he recounted his days of glory.
Thanks to Parzor Foundation for the footage.
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00:00A number of you will be joining as officers of the Indian Army, a great professional army.
00:10So Sam, tell me about the beginning of the Bangladesh war, the Mukti Bahini.
00:21Oh, Pakistan really cracked down in a big way.
00:28The poor old Bengalis, what could they do against the Pathans and Punjabi Muslims and the army?
00:37So they started pouring in into India and Mrs Gandhi, in an awful temper,
00:47looked at me and read out messages from the Chief Minister of West Bengal,
00:53that thousands of refugees have poured in, from the Chief Minister of Assam,
00:58Chief Minister of Tripura, and she looked at me and said, what are you doing about it?
01:04Nothing, what's it got to do with me?
01:09She said, I want you to do something. I said, what do you want me to do?
01:14I want you to march into East Pakistan. I said, that means war.
01:21So she said, I don't mind if it's war. So I said, oh, have you read the Bible?
01:27God said, let there be light, and there was light. And you say, let there be war, and there was war?
01:34Are you ready? I certainly am not.
01:38Then I said, this was about 23rd of April. I said, you know, the Himalayan passes are opening,
01:48and if the Chinese give us an ultimatum, then I said, the monsoon will be breaking in a few days' time,
01:57and when it rains in that part of the world, it pours, rivers become like oceans.
02:03And on one bank, you can't see the other. My movement will be confined to roads.
02:09Because of climatic conditions, the Air Force will not be able to support me.
02:15And if I were to go in, I guarantee you a hundred percent defeat.
02:20I said to Mrs. Gandhi, will you now give me your orders?
02:26All right, cabinet will meet again at four o'clock.
02:33Everybody started walking out, I being the junior one,
02:37a smile on my face as I was going out. She said, Chief, stay behind.
02:41I said, Prime Minister, before you open your mouth,
02:44shall I send in my resignation on grounds of health, mental or physical?
02:51I said, oh, sit down, Sam, tell me. Everything you told me is the truth.
02:55I said, yes, everything I've told you is the truth.
02:58I said, it's my job to fight, fight to win, not to lose.
03:03And she smiled at me and said, all right, Sam, you let me know when you are ready.
03:12What went wrong at Shimla?
03:14She went there and Bhutto made a complete... of her.
03:17I know I've just taken over from Yahya Khan.
03:24If I yield anything just now, they'll throw me out.
03:27Give me a chance. In six months' time, I promise you,
03:31everything will settle, everything peacefully.
03:34She came back and she told me, I said, he's made a monkey out of you.
03:38I went to Pakistan about two months after the conflict.
03:49And they really gave me a first-class welcome.
03:54The governor, this was at Lahore, the governor invited me for lunch,
04:00gave me a martini before lunch, wines at lunch.
04:07And during lunch, he said, General, will you do me a favor?
04:11So I said, if I can, Mr. Governor, I will.
04:15I thought he was going to ask me about some relation of his.
04:18My staff is outside. They want to shake hands with you.
04:22I went out and there they were all lined up.
04:25About the eleventh man took his pagdi off and put it at my feet.
04:30So I picked it up.
04:33He said, why did you do this?
04:36He said, Huzoor, if it was you, we would have been saved.
04:41My five boys are your prisoners.
04:44Their letter comes that you gave everyone the Quran Sharif.
04:50They sleep in the barracks, your men sleep outside.
04:55They sleep on the floor, your men sleep on the ground.
04:59When you go, you shake hands with everyone.
05:03You go to the langar and taste the food.
05:07He turned around, the governor was with me.
05:10Now we will never believe that the Hindus are bad.
05:16And I got into trouble in my own country.
05:21The bureaucrats and the ministers complained about me.
05:25The chief sahab treats them as if they are his sons-in-law.
05:30As if they were my sons-in-law.
05:33They complained against me at the cabinet meeting.
05:38Mr. Gandhi looked at me. I said, Prime Minister, they were soldiers.
05:42They fought. They fought extremely well.
05:45They lost.
05:48I am looking after the soldiers.
05:51I have forgotten all about the war and everything.
05:54Sam, what was your greatest achievement in the army?
05:58Do you know, from the rank of second lieutenant to field marshal,
06:04I have never punished a man.
06:08My adjutant general when I was the chief and my judge advocate general
06:14used to get all wild. Court martial proceedings would come to me.
06:18If they said not guilty, I would sign.
06:21If they said guilty and punished, I would take the file home.
06:25I would look at it. I would say, no, I think witness number three has lied.
06:29It was so and so.
06:32How can we maintain discipline with you as army chief if you do not punish?
06:37You damn chaps sit in Delhi with your wives and your children in lovely homes
06:42and you forget what those chaps are going through.
06:45I couldn't go anywhere when people would ask,
06:50General, when are you taking over?
06:55One evening at four o'clock in my office,
07:00I was having tea when Mrs. Gandhi rang up.
07:05She was in Parliament House.
07:11She rang up and said, Sam, are you very busy?
07:15And I said, Prime Minister, the army chief is always busy,
07:19but never too busy to talk to his Prime Minister.
07:23She said, can you come over? And I said, I am having tea here.
07:27She said, oh, I will give you tea. I said, I have good tea here. You give me muck.
07:32She said, oh, come over. I said, okay. I got hold of the ADC. I said, the girl wants me.
07:37Come on, get the car. The girl wants me.
07:42So, we got into the car, went to Parliament House.
07:47She was sitting in her office in a kidney shaped table.
07:52She was an actress. She was sitting down like this.
07:57I walked in in my breezy way. I said, hello, Prime Minister. You seem worried.
08:02She said, what's wrong? I said, I've got problems. So, I said, oh, cry on my shoulder.
08:07What are your problems? And she looked me straight in the face and said, you are my problem.
08:12So, I said, now what have I done? Have I made a speech?
08:17Have I done something stupid? I said, what have I done now?
08:22She said, everybody says you are going to take over from me.
08:27So, I said, and what do you think? She said, you can't.
08:32And I said, oh, you think I'm so incompetent? I didn't mean that, Sam.
08:37You wouldn't. She has a long nose. I have a longer one.
08:42I put my nose next to hers.
08:47I wanted to tell you, I have no intention or even a thought
08:52of getting involved in politics or taking over as long as I command my army without interference.
08:57Okay, you have told me enough about Mrs. Gandhi and myself.
09:02Morarji Desai. Ah, you want to know about Morarji Bhai.
09:07You've been dying to tell that story, haven't you? I've got two or three stories about Morarji Bhai.
09:12When I became Army Chief, Morarji Bhai was the
09:17finance minister in Mrs. Indira Gandhi's cabinet.
09:22Then he became Prime Minister.
09:27Mrs. Gandhi lost the election and became Prime Minister.
09:32One day he said, I believe you drink. So, I said, yes, you mustn't drink.
09:37Very bad for you. So, I said, Prime Minister,
09:42I come to my Prime Minister. He said, you mustn't drink.
09:47I go to a party and I talk to a pretty girl. My wife said, you mustn't talk to her.
09:52I'm a field master. Is life worth living? He said, your wife is quite right.
09:57Drinks and pretty girls will ruin you. I said, they haven't ruined me so far.
10:02After partition,
10:07I became Director of Military Operations and I remained
10:12Director of Military Operations for three and a half years.
10:17I was sent to Kashmir with
10:22VP Menon, who was the State Secretary.
10:27The Maharaja's army had, the Muslim element
10:32had revolted. The tribesmen had come in
10:37and I was sent there with him.
10:42VP Menon, to see if he could get the accession from the Maharaja,
10:47meet and see what the military situation was like.
10:52At about midnight, the Maharaja kept on saying,
10:57we can't send soldiers into your state unless you accede to India.
11:02So at midnight, he acceded to India. VP Menon handed over the
11:07accession papers to Mountbatten. Mountbatten looked at me
11:12and said, Manakji. He didn't call him Manakji.
11:17What's the military situation like? I said, very bad, sir.
11:22The tribesmen are busy looting and raping about nine kilometers away from Srinagar and the airfield.
11:27If they want to get in, we've lost Kashmir
11:32because we won't be able to fly troops in, etc.
11:37So he looked at Nehru and Nehru talked and all
11:42until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir
11:47or do you want to hand it over? I said, of course Kashmir is ours now.
11:52So he said, will you issue orders? And before he could issue orders, Sardar Patel said,
11:57you have received your orders. So I walked out and we started
12:02flying troops into Kashmir.
12:07What was your relationship with Sardar Patel like?
12:12He was the Home Minister and
12:17I had a good relationship with him.
12:22Every morning, VP Menon and I
12:27would go to his place and he would be sitting down there
12:32his daughter, Money Men, sitting cross-legged with a
12:37pack of houndsmen, brown pack of houndsmen taking notes
12:42and he would say, VP, I want
12:47Baroda. Take him with you.
12:52I would go as a bogeyman in uniform. When the killings were taking place in
12:57Calcutta
13:02my British Commander-in-Chief, he came along and said,
13:07the Sardar wants you in Calcutta. I said, why me, sir?
13:12He phoned, he wants you there. An aircraft has been
13:17laid on for you. So I went there.
13:22The Sardar was with the Chief Minister
13:28B.C. Roy. When I went in there, he said,
13:33I don't want the arguments, etc. I'm going to ask you a question, I want
13:38an answer. If I hand over the situation to the army, how many
13:43Bengalis will you kill and how long will it take you? I was a very young brigadier.
13:48So I opened my mouth. I said, sir, about a hundred
13:53in about a month. So he said, turn around to Bidhan Roy.
13:58He said, thousands are being killed. He said, go and kill them, take over.
14:03And he deployed troops all over Calcutta. We didn't have to kill anybody.
14:08Everything finished. He said, come here.
14:13And in Gujarati he tells me,
14:18So I said, what have I done?
14:28Then he told me, well done, thank you.
14:33Then the Chinese came into
14:38NIFA and
14:44General Kohl was sacked and Krishna Menon was removed.
14:49And Nehru sent for me. He said, I've got a vigorous enemy.
14:54Will you go and take over? And I said, I've been waiting 18 months for this,
14:59Prime Minister. And he said, oh, that was all a mistake.
15:04That was all a mistake. Will you go? I said, yes, I'll go. So I took over.
15:10And so I always say that the Chinese came to my rescue.
15:15If the Chinese hadn't come in and if Krishna Menon and Kohl hadn't been sacked,
15:20I don't know what they would have done with me. I said, I don't want to know what happened in the past.
15:25All I want to know is, who are my commanders?
15:30Where are the Chinese? How much ammunition have I got? How much oil, petroleum and food have I got?
15:35I just leave the map to be here.
15:40After half an hour, I rang the bell. They came in.
15:45And I said, I don't know whether I'm doing right or wrong, but these are my orders.
15:50And that was the time when the chief of staff took his hat off, flung it on the ground,
15:55jumped on it. He said, thank effing God, at last somebody is giving orders.
16:01We have never had orders before. And my orders were that we start advancing.
16:06So what?
16:19So Sam, tell me about when you joined the Gurkhas.
16:24Oh Lord!
16:29In the Indian Army, there were ten regiments of Gurkhas.
16:34So, when India got independence, like the Pakistan people went to Pakistan,
16:39certain regiments went to Her Majesty's Gurkhas,
16:44and certain regiments remained in India.
16:49But there was a treaty between the King of Nepal and the British government
16:54that all Gurkha regiments would be officered by British officers.
16:59So, when the British officers left,
17:04there had to be some Indian officers.
17:09So, I was the first Indian to be posted to a Gurkha regiment.
17:14I haven't been with the frontier force regiment, now became a Gurkha.
17:19What year was this?
17:241947.
17:29And I met a Gurkha sentry, I looked at him, and I said,
17:34asked him, what is your name? And he said, Harkabad Gurung.
17:39Then I looked at him, what is my name? And he thought and thought, and he said, Sam Badar.
17:49.