Civil-military battle at Delhi Gym

ept. 9: The Indian Air Force lobby appears pitted against the powerful civilian bureaucracy for the post of president of New Delhi’s prestigious Delhi Gymkhana Club. The club’s presidential election is due to be held on the last Saturday of the month, September 26, and once again there’s a controversy brewing.

The bureaucratic lobby is agitated over a "breach of convention" — they say that according to convention the president’s post should rotate between the armed forces and the civil services every two years, and it’s their "turn" this time. The armed forces and the bureaucracy, serving and retired, dominate the club’s membership.

This year’s contest is expected to be between the current president, Air Marshal P.S. Ahluwalia (Retd), who is seeking re-election, and a senior bureaucrat, Mr Prakash Chandra of the Indian Revenue Service.

Air Marshal Ahluwalia, who earlier retired as chief of the New Delhi-based Western Air Command, had become president last year and wants to continue. The club has been witnessing controversies over its presidential election for the past two years, with the Army lobby pitted against the Air Force officers. Adding another twist is the fact that a substantial section of the Army lobby, which is upset with Air Marshal Ahluwalia, could end up supporting his civilian rival as a mark of protest.

"The convention has been that every two years, the post of president is rotated between the armed services and civilians. Two years ago, outgoing Army Chief Gen. J.J. Singh was elected and last year it was Air Marshal Ahluwalia. Now the military lobby should step aside and allow the smooth election of a civilian president," said a civilian member of the club who sought anonymity. Other members said that while such a convention did exist, it had not always been followed. A senior retired Army officer said, however, that as per convention Air Marshal Ahluwalia should step aside.

The air marshal’s supporters, on the other hand, claim that there is another convention that a sitting president is allowed to contest a second term. "Air Marshal Ahluwalia is contesting for a second term. That does not violate any convention. If he had served two terms, he would not have contested again." They also draw attention to the fact that he had "gracefully withdrawn" from the contest two years ago in order to not contest against Gen. Singh, then still the serving Army Chief. Last year, the air marshal contested again and won, defeating Lt. Gen. Rajender Singh, who was then the Army’s director-general of infantry.