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Exclusive: Bhagwat promises to reveal truth soon

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

"I feel like I have returned home from a long journey," sacked Indian Navy chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat said on arriving at his home in Colaba, south Bombay, today.

He also promised to "reveal the truth [about my dismissal] very soon".

"If supporting the national interest is a crime, then I am guilty," he told Rediff On The NeT. "I have done my duty and followed the Constitution and I am proud of that."

Bhagwat arrived in a cavalcade for the last time at 1700 hours IST. His flight from New Delhi was delayed by nearly four hours by a technical snag. Naval officers in uniform were with him as he alighted from an Ambassador with a red flasher and entered the house he had bought way back in 1974.

Asked whether he would be able to adjust to his small two-room flat after having lived in the sprawling Navy House in Delhi, he retorted, "Why not? When Jawaharlal Nehru could live in prisons before Independence, why can't I stay in this house now? I have always lived here since 1974. Even as chief of the Western Command, I used to stay in this house."

Niloufer, his lawyer wife of 32 years, interrupted, "The admiral has always followed the principle of simple living and high thinking."

Asked if he felt humiliated by the turn of events, Admiral Bhagwat said, "I have never felt humiliated in my life. Nobody can humiliate me. I have done my duty and am proud of it. Now it is for you to judge who is guilty."

Admiral Bhagwat's retirement benefits have been withheld by the government. But he was unconcerned: "It is for the government to decide whether I will get a pension. So far no decision has been conveyed to me."

He is clearly touched by the warm response he has got from all sections of society. "You know, people like you are longing to meet me and they are all supporting me," he beamed.

"People are longing to shake hands with Admiral Bhagwat," Niloufer Bhagwat added. "They are coming and telling him that the government has been unfair to you. In fact, he has become a hero today."

Asked why they did not move the courts against his dismissal, she said, "My husband has been in the eye of a storm since 1990. In 1996, the editor of Tarun Bharat [a newspaper affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] filed a fake public interest litigation against me. And now again this has happened. Had we gone to court, it would have limited the issue. Now, the issue is open before the country. The people of India have seen what the government has done to one of its finest officers. It is a wider issue. An honest officer who was selected for his secular values has been victimised by a fascist government."

The admiral has no plans to start an arms business or any other kind of business like many of his retired colleagues. "My plan is to write a book from today. I also plan to read, walk, and meet my friends. What I will do besides that only Allah and Ram know," he quipped.

But isn't he depressed? "No, the worst day of depression was when our dog died on January 3. We felt very depressed. Now we feel free," his wife said.

"Admiral Bhagwat has not enjoyed his life ever since he became a cadet. We were nine months away from freedom when this happened. The government has made him a national hero. It is the government's honour at stake, not ours," she smiled.

The Bhagwats anticipate no problems with their neighbours and believe they know their sincerity. "This house is open to all. In fact, our naval house was well guarded compared to this house," she said.

A coconut vendor outside the house recalled later: "In the last 15 years I have seen Admiral Bhagwat many times. He is very down to earth. In fact, he often used to come out and sip narialpani [coconut water] and had no hassles standing on the pavement to enjoy his drink."

When the opinion of some defence analysts, that if the charges against him were true, he ought to have been court-martialled, was pointed out to the admiral, Bhagwat reacted angrily: "Let us not talk about a court-martial. The people of India have to decide who's guilty."

Photographs: Jewella C Miranda

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