General Arun Shridhar Vaidya, MVC(Bar), AVSM (27 January 1926 Alibag – 10 August 1986 Pune) was the 13th Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of the Indian Army.
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In 1965, the then Lieutenant Colonel Vaidya was in command of the Deccan Horse. During the time he was instrumental in completely destroying the thrusts by Pakistani Armour divisions which ran away in the Battle of Asal Uttar and later at Cheema. For this he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra. Vaidya was also responsible for planning Operation Bluestar in 1984.
During the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict, the then Brigadier Vaidya was commander of an armored brigade in the Zafarwal sector on the western front. In the battle of Chakra and Dahira, the hostile terrain was combined with minefields. He crossed through the minefield and moved forward. Thus the entire squadron was able to push through the lane and quickly deploy itself to meet the Pakistan Army's counter-attacks.
During the Battle of Basantar or Battle of Barapind in the same conflict, Brigadier Vaidya displayed skill and leadership in getting his tanks through deep minefields. For this he was awarded a second Maha Vir Chakra (known as the Bar to MVC).
On 31 July 1983 General Vaidya became the 13th Chief Of Army Staff of the Indian Army . In 1984, he planned the highly controversial Operation Blue Star.
He retired on 31 January 1986 as India's most decorated soldier.[1] He had completed over 40 years of service.
In 1984, General Vaidya designed and supervised[2] Operation Blue Star - a controversial military operation ordered by Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India,[3] against a small contigent of Sikhs commanded by Major General Shabeg Singh (AVSM and PVSM) under Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Chief of Damdami Taksal, in June 1984 at the Golden Temple complex.
General Vaidya retired and took residence in Pune, India. On 10 August 1986 he was shot to death by Sikhs while driving his car home from the market.[4] According to the police, the assailants pulled up next to his car on motor scooters and fired eight or nine shots into the car.[5] Vaidya reportedly died instantly of head and neck wounds. His bodyguard, who was also in the car, was wounded by four bullets in his back and thighs.[6]
According to Indian intelligence sources, Vaidya had been the number four assassination target on lists by Sikhs and he was one of several people killed in retaliation for Operation Blue Star.[7][8]
Following the assassination, the Khalistan Commando Force issued a statement declaring that Vaidya had been killed in retaliation for the Golden Temple operation.[7] In 1989, Sikh militants Sardar Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Sardar Harjinder Singh Jinda were sentenced to death for the killing. Despite admitting to the killing, they pled not-guilty, justifying their actions by stating that Vaidya was "guilty of a serious crime, the punishment for which could only be death".[8] The two were executed on 9 October 1992.
| Preceded by Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao |
Chief of Army Staff 1983 – 1986 |
Succeeded by Krishnaswamy Sundarji |