Senior practicing advocate of Madras High Court N Vijayaraghavan has authored a new book titled “Sam Manekshaw’s Beloved Armed Forces”, reports Organiser.
Madras High Court judges G R Swaminathan and P T Asha released the book on 14 February in a videoconference function. Noted Chennai-based Tamil publishers Kalaimagal Publication published the book.
Speaking about the book, Justice Swaminathan said, “Advocate Vijayaraghavan has written this book with complete details on Sam Manekshaw. It is a wholesome book. All youths should read this book to understand the sacrifice of our defence forces which are incomparable. It would help to have faith in the nation and patriotism. We need more books on our defence forces to motivate them and to have respect for their yeoman service to the nation.”
In his foreword to the book, R Sankaranarayanan, Additional Solicitor General of India, Madras High court said, “The author of this book has tweaked the work by keeping company of the one and only Sam Manekshaw, the irrepressible Field Marshal. The anecdotal run of the work with Sam Bahadur whose life and times was full of it ― as he called himself a ‘jolly good fellow who lived life to the hilt ―is in racy, pacy genre, keeping the readers in thrall. I for one was and readily agreed to pen this foreword.”
Sankaranarayanan adds, “The book is on the three defense forces namely Army, Air Force and Navy. Author Vijayaraghavan has conceded that he was no authority on the subject and his work was more of a compilation than a dissertation. In fact, he has covered extensively almost every topic of interest to laymen and men in uniform –why some join the armed forces, how women have come to the fore and Absent dialogue between the armed forces, bureaucrats and political establishment – borrowing from the recent work of Mr Anit Mukherjee which is a dissertation by an author with matchless pedigree, as a soldier turned research analyst, alluded to the wars of 1947, 1962, 1965 and 1971 and 1999 –flagging off the gallant efforts of the men on the ground with brilliant interludes with a Sam Manekshaw connect, the social and political backdrops, the manufacture, procurement and acquisition of armaments and efforts at indigenization and to wind up the empathetic attitude the ordinary Indian needs to show towards men in uniform et at. The sweep is wide and coming from a common man’s perspective, it engages the attention of the discerning and interested very well.”
He says, “This is a work on our proud Armed forces with a thoughtful and lovely Sam Manekshaw spin, making it a colorful production that would and should appeal to every proud Indian. This book was written in catchy prose and has been brought out in style, easy on the eye.”
The author in his preface writes, “To be honest Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, it was, who drew me in. My first, middle and end reading for this work was on Sam, Sam and more of Sam alone. The rest followed, as if on cue. Sam lived his life full. He readily said so, And kept saying so, even after he quit the forces , though once a Field Marshal always is a Field Marshall. His epic leadership role in the Indo-Pak war of 1971 which resulted in the birth of Bangladesh, alone gets pride of place oftentimes. But he was more than that said conflict. He breathed life and vigour into the forces, and loved his men, on and off the borders. So much, that he openly confessed that he never ever punished even one soldier despite court-martial proceedings. He claimed that he somehow ‘identified evidence sufficient to exculpate the delinquent’. That was he.”
The author also intends to bring out the book in Tamil.
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