In the Kandahar hijacking, Jaswant Singh stands out for his quiet resolve. He shouldered the responsibility of securing the release of 161 hostages

Beyond the usual ‘manufactured-outrage’, there was an inadvertent redemption with the role played of the Soldier-Statesman-Scholar, Jaswant Singh, in the recent OTT series IC-814 – The Kandahar Hijack. Undoubtedly, the hijacking saga casts a dark shadow on Indian governance with glaring mismanagement e.g., lack of cohesion among intelligence agencies, slow alignment amongst stakeholders, allowing the aircraft to take off from Amritsar et al, but in public memory, it is the singular image of Jaswant carrying three terrorists to Kandahar to secure the release of passengers and crew of IC-814. Many saw it as a moment of sovereign capitulation. Others saw it as successful negotiations under impossible circumstances, where negotiations were the only option (An entebbe-style raid, clearly wasn’t feasible).

It was, as Jaswant himself puts it succinctly, “a choice between a bad decision, and a far worse decision”.  Negotiating the release of the hijacked passengers was a collective decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The composition of CCS was chaired by then PM Vajpayee, and had included the then Home Minister, NSA, Defence Minister, and of course the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh. If that is so, why was it only Jaswant who carries the can of blame for posterity? The answer can be attempted in a couple of ways – firstly by understanding the inherent construct of Jaswant the individual, and his understanding of his ‘duty’, and secondly by understanding the impulse of others in the same situation, who were also part and parcel of this complex and questionable decision.Why didn’t Jaswant come clean (or at least forcefully enough) to share the blame with his colleagues? For starters, it has to do with Jaswant’s imagined sense of himself and his conscience.

Honourable soldiers do what is to be done, with no fuss or grandiosity. Major Jaswant Singh was a cavalier from the illustrious Central India Horse and had left the Indian Army prematurely but always exemplified its finest tenets and values steadfastly, throughout his public life. The institution had defined him, and he had marched out without any usual ‘terminal benefit’ but with what he reflected, “My service with is my benefit, and what the army gave me, taught me, left me with me is my priceless pension”.One such ‘officer-and-a-gentleman’ quality is what General James Mattis (former US Defense Secretary) alluded to while expressing his measured disagreement with the unhinged Donald Trump i.e., the French expression ‘devoir de reserve’ (literally, the duty of silence).

Perhaps Jaswant was informed by decades of soldiering, politics and statesmanship that to brave a difficult situation like IC-814 was one thing, but to further weaken the ‘moment’ for India by name calling or finger pointing, even worse. His colleagues were spared the taint, for he had protected them. It is another story that many were incredously absolving themselves of any knowledge of the exchange or his dash to Kandahar.

When one misstep after another was happening with IC-814 with no one taking charge of the situation, Jaswant had stepped up and personally offered to go to Kandahar to secure the release, with the unpredictable Taliban and amoral ISI, across. The usually blustering and omnipresent Ministers were meekly abstaining from giving media bytes or even talking to distraught relatives, as they knew the hopelessness and intensity of the situation.

The situation was fluidic, and anything could have happened requiring quick decision-making, and so Jaswant put himself in the line of fire. His colleagues were better politicians, and he, was a soldier to his country and conscience, first and foremost.

We were to engage frequently at the Rashtrapati Bhawan when he was earlier an opposition MP, and later a Cabinet Minister (Defence, External Affairs & Finance), and then again, as an opposition MP. Each time in a gathering of civilians he would catch the eye of those in ‘Uniform’ and acknowledge them with a gracious nudge or salute when saluted.

In all his varied professional capacities, his sole and avowedly apolitical questions were about the welfare of the President's Bodyguards or about their magnificent horses, on whom too, his eyes rolled rather gently. Many questions can be posed about Jaswant’s decisions e.g., IC-814, but he remained an essentially decent and dignified voice of reason. So winds of politics in his partisan camp changed, and he became an ‘outsider’ in the new sensibilities. Like a noble soldier, he left his camp but didn’t join the ‘other side’, as done by most. He was too proud to do that, so he passed away silently like a ship at night, saving his colleagues, party, and the country, like he saved the moment in Kandahar.

He was to profoundly introspect in, A Call to Honour, “between this ‘right’ act of saving 161 lives, or standing up against terrorism and letting them all ‘go’, for all to die – will that be another ‘right’ act? By choosing that which is otherwise extinguished for always – Life, for, in any event this fight against terrorism will continue, from one challenge to another”. Just for the fact that the Gentleman (an old-fashioned word that he’d understand best) stood up for all his decisions (right or wrong) and never really blamed others (when he could have), he certainly deserves a better memory.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views expressed are personal)