THE " VALOUR " OF ARJAN SINGH :: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE :: A “ TRIBUTE ” TO “ THAT “ GREAT “ MAN




Only Marshal of IAF, hero of 1965, he shaped the force 1 / 27
 “ Soldiers come , Soldiers go , Soldiers leave unforgettable footprints :: Field Marshal Patton , U S A Army , 1945 ”
Some people are BORN never to be ever forgotten and Mr Arjan Singh, the ONLY FIVE STAR SOLDIER ie FLYING AIR FORCE PERSONNEL WAS THE ONLY ONE FROM THE AIR-FORCE and ONE of the most TRUSTED DEVOTED and RESPECTED for all his service to the Indian DEFENSE FORCE especially the Air - Force will never be forgotten for the service selflessly he offered to the Indian Air-Force and to this country
The sole Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh, passed away at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital on Saturday evening, on September 17th 2018, hours after he had been admitted there following a cardiac arrest. He was 98.
An officer who shaped the IAF in its early years as well as during some of its most difficult junctures, Arjan Singh had the honour of leading the fly-past of more than a hundred IAF aircraft over the Red Fort on India’s first Independence Day, August 15, 1947.
Born on April 15, 1919, in Lyallpur (now in Pakistan) to a family of soldiers, Arjan Singh joined the nascent IAF in 1938 after completing his education from the Government College at Lahore to a family of soldiers, and he went on to become the TOPMOST ranked Air Force Officer in his life.
In 2002, on the occasion of Republic Day, he was granted the honorary rank of Marshal, the highest military rank attainable, which only two Army chiefs, K M Carriappa and Sam Manekshaw, had achieved.
He was commissioned from the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell in the UK in December 1939. As a Pilot Officer posted in Karachi, he participated in operations against the tribals in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The highlights of his early career were the two operational tenures on the Burma Front during the Second World War, first as a Pilot Officer with Tigers Squadron and subsequently as the Commander of the same Squadron. As a consummate Squadron Commander, flying Hurricane fighters in defence of Imphal in 1944, beseiged by the Japanese, he had displayed masterly leadership. In an unprecedented step, the then Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asian Command, Lord Mountbatten, had personally awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross on the battlefield for his leadership and performance in defeating the Japanese.
Arjan Singh held many important posts in the IAF before taking over as Air Marshal in August 1964. The Pakistan Air Force was led by his batchmate from Cranwell, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, at the time. During the skirmish at Kutch in early 1965, the two chiefs had established contact and agreed on keeping the two air forces out, to prevent any inadvertent escalation. But once Pakistan had launched Operation Grandslam to cut off Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of India by launching a military attack in Akhnoor in September 1965, the then army chief, General J N Chaudhuri, had met him at Vayu Bhawan and suggested that the Pakistani assault would best be stopped by the IAF.
Arjan Singh and Chaudhuri had then gone to meet the defence minister, Y B Chavan, who famously gave them the go ahead. As Arjan Singh later recounted, “Pakistan had a qualitatively superior force that included modern fighters such as F-86 Sabres and F-104 Starfighters. The Indian Air Force had Mysteres, Vampires, Ouragans, Hunters, and Gnats in its inventory. We were fighting against all odds as they had air-to-air missiles and we just had a few Russian MiGs that were not used much in the war.”
In the subsequent weeks though, the IAF had established its air superiority, with deep-penetration attacks against enemy targets, including the farthest Pakistani airfields like Peshawar and Mauripur.
Arjan Singh continued to believe that the 1965 War ended in a stalemate despite India being in an advantageous position. “When the talk about ceasefire started, I had advised Shastriji (Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri), who was under enormous international pressure, against accepting it,” he later recounted. “On the other hand, Pakistan was losing its aircraft at a fast rate and was keen on accepting the ceasefire. However, because of international pressure and other considerations, India agreed to the ceasefire.”
For his meritorious services during the 1965 Indo-Pak War, Arjan Singh was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan. On January 15, 1966, he became the first officer of the IAF to be promoted to the rank of Air Chief Marshal, at par with a General.
He continued to serve the country in various capacities even after retirement in July 1969. In 1971, he was made India’s Ambassador to Switzerland and in 1974, the High Commissioner to Kenya. He also served as a member of the Minorities Commission and as the Lt Governor of Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Arjan Singh in hospital on Saturday, mourned his death. “We remember his outstanding service to the nation,” he said.


Mr Arjun Singh and his contribution to Indian Sports
SPORTS::::: Mr ARJAN SINGH
This also is SOMETHING which I would like to SHARE it with all those who REALLY adorn and ADORE the INDIAN SPORTS
It was 1970 . The Indian contingent for the 6th Asian Games was to be announced that was to be held at Bangkok, Thailand For the information of many Thailand also had previously held that Games in 1966 and India did not do anything well in that games Naturally the Indian Government with Madam Indira Gandhi holding the Department of Sports as an additional charge was very perturbed about whom to bestow the honour so that he/she raises the MORAL of the Indian sports contingent for the games and at the games.
Mr Arvind Netam during that time was incharge of the Department of Games and Sports in the Indian Government but on a AD-HOC basis He reminded Mrs Indira Gandhi to pick Mr Arjun Singh as he felt that with the kind of the MOTIVATIONAL and FIGHTING qualities that Mr Singh had he would be able to inspire to raise the bar of the Indian contingent to a very GREAT level
Mrs Gandhi called upon Mr Singh and asked him- SAHAB KYA YEH JIMMEDARI NIBHAENGAY AAP and his reply was- SIPAHI HOON JIMMEDARI LENA ADIKAR HAI BOLIYE KYA KARNA HAI
After some talks it was decided that this man may be made the CHIEF- DE - MISSION of the Asian Games 1970 contingent
He did what a SOLDIER was supposed to do He saw to it that the Indian contingent was given the BEST of the treatment was taken care admirably well was TREATED judiciously before and after their event and were always made to feel at easeat the games village.
Some of the PERFORMANCE displayed by the Indian team was MIRACULOUS
He came to know about Kamaljit Sandhu whose family members were serving the Indian Army and Indian Air-Force He called her and infused some inspirational words. RESULT- Madam KAMALJIT SINGH SANDHU WON THE 400 METRES GOLD IN THE EVES' EVENT AND BECAME THE FIRST WOMEN FROM INDIA TO WIN A GOLD IN ANY INTERNATIONAL EVENT
He went a LONG way afterwards to help Madam Sandhu receive all the best training which enabled her to compete at the Munich Olympics After the Munich Olympics he met the family of Ms Sandhu and appraised them to get her married and it did not end here He got a very good Punjabi family the BRAR and one of them was married to Kamaljit Sandhu.He thus helped her to settle in life
The GOLD MEDAL which Hawa Singh won in the boxing in the Super Heavy Weight category also was in a way his inspiration to Hawa Singh in terms of the words which helped Hawa Singh to erase his mental problem that he was facing to win that bought Hawa Singh's brother was brutally killed in the 1965 war by the Pakistani at Akhnoor and the story of the brutal kiiling always played in his mind Hewas suppossed to face a Pakistani soldier and Hawa Singh had the bent to kill that Pakistani boxer in the ring
Knowing to get the mental state of the mind of Hawa Singh he approached Hawa Singh and with his TACT of TALKS and NEUTRALISING TACTICS to put the brain in right perspective he made Hawa Singh very normal and that helped Hawa Singh to do what no other Indian boxer did in their career
HAWA SINGH IS THE ONLY INDIAN BOXER TO WIN TWO BACK TO BACK GOLD MEDAL IN ANY INTERNATIONAL BOXING EVENT
The next was the Water-Polo event It had four players from the Indian Air Force participating and representing India Knowing these he invited the entire Water Polo contingent to his suite at the GAMES VILLAGE and spoke to them INDIVIDUALLY and COLLECTIVELY He then took them for a dinner which was his own wallet getting light in the context
His DEFENSE TACTICAL MAGIC worked wonder with the water-polo team and they ended winning the BRONZE
THAT WAS THE ONLY OCCASSION IN THE ANNALS OF THE INDIAN SPORTS THAT AN INDIAN WATER POLO TEAM WON THE MEDAL IN ANY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The QUATRET of the AIR-FORCE player all Bengalis really put a kind of a display that the organizer were left biting their teeth in anxiety to watch the Indian water polo contingent displaying that kind of a show It was really UNEXPECTED and when the tournament ie the water polo event was over the contingent of the IOA who were there to watch the event went to Mr Arjan Singh saying that they did not know that the Indian are so very good in the water games
The BIGGEST crux that he held to put the entire games in its own place was the FOOTBALL event We know that 1970 ASIAN GAMES AT BANGKOK WAS THE LAST WHEN INDIA DID WIN AN INTERNATIONAL MEDAL A BRONZE FOR THE LAST
This event was held in a manner that India had to play TWO games in TWO days 180 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL IN TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS IS SOMETHINMG WHICH ONE WILL NEVER BELIEVE BUT YES THAT WAS THE FIXTURE
the Indian team was TOTALLY against this and in one of the moment they literally wrote the organiser that they would pull out of the tourney if the scheduling was not reorganised and worked on to make the things better for them
This was something which totally was upsetting the applecart of the organiser Extending the fixture by two days- one for extending the date for India to play her match after atleast a rest day that they would enjoy and then extending the day of the final match - it would have added so many a dollars to the existing expense of the organiser
The Chief of the organiser of the Games then came to Mr Arjan Singh and put his view point He was a OFFICER FROM THE THAI ARMY and he was given this additioanl charge to conduct the games by the Thai authorities He spoke all about his difficulties to Mr Arjan Singh and requested him to somehow make the Indian football team to play two games consecutively in two days
Mr Singh rose to the occasiion , spoke each words to each players seperately and collectively and just told them- PROVE THAT YOU ALL ARE SO STRONG AN INDIAN THAT YOU CAN OVERCOME THE WEIGHT OF PLAYING CONSECUTIVELY FOR TWO DAYS
You might lose well- that is in the game but if you win TWO MATCHES PLAYING FOR TWO DAYS THE WORLD WILL FEAR YOU WITH ALL RESPECT AND THAT WILL BE YOUR GREATEST " GIFT " TO INDIAN FOOTBALL This is an occassion for you to stand up and SHOW- HOW STRONG THE INDANS ARE INSPITE OF BEING A VERY POOR COUNTRY
WON'T YOU LIKE TO TAKE THIS SITUATION TO PROVE A POINT FOR INDIA, INDIAN FOOTBALL AND YOURSELF
Mr P K Banerjee the coach then in his presence put this question to the Indian team and no sooner he put that Mohammed Habib got up and said- KHELENGAY BHI AUR JITENGAY BHI CHALO TAIYYAR HOH JAO and the entire Indian team got onto the feet to say- KHELENGAY
Well India had to play two matches in two days In the first they lost to Japan by 1-2 in the group encounter and they then took on Burma in the semis which they lost by 0-2
The Indian team did not loose to Burma just because the Burmese were too good It was because the Indian were playing with too TIRED LEGS which after the 65th minutes of the games was LIFELESS and STRENGTHLESS even to walk leave apart the question of running However the Indian team put up a valiant resistance in the last 30 minutes of the match where the Burmese bombarded them relentlessly and Sudhir Karmakar played a game of his life to somehow keep the score board still at 2-0
After a day of rest when India gain took Japan for the Bronze Medal match it was a TALE OF A DIFFERENT KIND
Sudhir Kormokar did not allow the Tall Japanese striker Jan Kammamotto even to take a free turn in the game and did not allow him to move at all Kammamotta ten was the BEST player of Asia and was playing in the top flight European soccer and was scoring goals at his own will
Jan Kammamotto in fact after MAJID BHISKAR is the BEST ASIAN FOOTBALLER that was born at Asia to play FOOTBALL for Japan from Asia
Pele in his very FIRST AUTOBIOGRAPHY- MY BEST 50 FOOTBALLER had one chapter- THE ONLY ONE FROM ASIA Kammamoto with all praise for his footballing skill and when he was totally neutralised which helped India to win that match by 1-0 to win the Branze, the PRESIDENT of FIFA Mr Alf Ramsay then went to Mr Arjan Singh and said- ACTUALLY INDIA SHOULD HAVE WON THE GOLD AND IF IT WAS NOT THAT KIND OF AN HAPHAZARD FIXTURE THAT INDIA WERE TO ACCEPT AND PLAY YOUR TEAM SHOULD HAVE WON THE GOLD
He later added that HE DID NOT SEE ANY INDIAN TEAM PLAYING THAT KIND OF UNIMAGINABLE FOOTBALL BESIDE THANKING HIM TO HELP THE FOOTBALL EVENT TO FINISH AND THAT TOO WITHOUT ANY ABBERATION & ABRUPTION
There again he was FULL of praise for Sudhir Karmakar saying that if he was to choose three best defenders in the world amongst all the defenders that he saw playing football, he would always pick Sudhir Kormokar as one of them He was shocked to see Sudhirda playing that kind of a intelligent and tough football inspite of his very short height and a lean structure body .
It was THIS man who DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to see to it that the events at the 6th Asian Games went on without being uninterrupted
When the contingent came back- a special tea party for the contingent was held and the Indian Premier then, Mrs Indira Gandhi presented every member of the team/contingent with a KASHMIRI SHAWL
Mr Arjan Singh got jobs for all the members who were willing to join the Government jobs courtesy Madam Indira Gandhi and the four members of the water-polo squad who were from the Indian Air-Force were given an out of the consideration kind of a PROMOTION in their job
He later went onto to BECOME a " GREAT " friend of Mohammed Habib the PELE of Indian football as he was called. More about it later
In whatever field that this man put his HAND- IT TURNED TO BE THE -
" HANDS OF GOD "
HELLO Mr MARADONA ARE YOU READING THIS PIECE That is HOW THE HAND OF GOD WORKS AND NOT LIKE YOUR HAND THAT WORKED AGAINST ENGLAND IN THE 1986 WORLD CUP

Arjun Singh:: He “ LOVED “ music especaiily the Gazals & Mohammed Rafi was one of his favourite
As a human being he was very fond of music especially the Punjabi bhajans and the ghazals Most of these songs were sung by Mohammed Rafi and when he met Mohammed Rafi for the first time he spoke in length and details of the ghazals and the bhajans to know more about them and to speak more about what he knew about those songs .That was he as a human being and as a man who loved the bhajans and the ghazals .
That was this GREAT man we called him - AIR MARSHAL ARJAN SINGH

Today on the auspicious day of the VISHVAKARMA POOJA we remember him on the first DEATH anniversary of this GREAT son of India His contribution to the nation just cannot be measured in any terms and by any means Such GREAT was his contribution to the nation

REST IN PEACE THE MOST ADMIRED SON OF INDIA

Regards

Shyamal Bhattacharjee

Comments