摘要：The Indian Army celebrates 15 January as the Army Day. This is a landmark date in its history. It was raised as a colonial army nearly three centuries ago and became a national army on 15 August 1947. Yet till 14 January 1949, the top leadership of the Army was British and only on 15 January 1949, that for the first time an Indian became its Chief. This was the fulfillment of a demand for inducting Indians as officers in the Army, made by Ram Mohan Roy before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1833. The Uprising in 1857 had ruled out the acceptance of that demand. Starting with the second session of the Indian National Congress in 1886, this demand was revived repeatedly in the party’s subsequent resolutions. The imperialists vehemently opposed this. Two well known Commanders-in-Chief of the Indian Army had strong views in the matter. Lord Roberts wrote, “Native officers cannot take the place of British officers. Eastern races, however brave and accustomed to war, do not posses the qualities that go to make good leaders of men.” Lord Kitchener wrote about deep seated racial repugnance in the Army, “chiefly it is due to an honest belief - which is not altogether unfounded – that any substitution of Indians for British officers must be detrimental to the interests of the Army.” It was only after the First World War that in recognition of the outstanding contribution of the Indian soldier, recognised the world over, that the British Government allowed a very small trickle of Indian officers in the Army. General, later Field Marshal, KM Cariappa was among the first batch of some half a dozen Indians, commissioned in 1919.
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