Vikas Lakhera stands for development and peace. I have known this intrepid Indian army officer ever since he ably commanded his unit in and around 2008-2009 in Assam’s Nalbari.
I still remember his sterling briefing to me in the Tamulpur Brigader in 2008 when Brig. Arul Dennis was the Commander of one of the Indian army’s brigades and then Maj Gen. S.S. Jog (a fellow Rimcollian) was the GOC, 21 Mountain Division.
Vikas is a veritable younger brother to me. If history is to be scripted it cannot ignore this officer’s contribution in ushering Assam to the peace and tranquility that the province today rests it had once uneasy head on.
Officers like Maj Gen Vikas Lakhera, soon to be Lt Gen, are the pride of Assam, Nagaland and South Arunachal Pradesh.
Military manoeuvres have emanated from the days of the Napoleonic wars and beyond. Strategies, tactics and perception management has undergone change as naturally is wont, but the brass must comprehend that officers and gentlemen such as Major General Vikas Lakhera have internalised the innards of the North East in a manner that few officers of his ilk have been able to do so.
The fires of Oting was controlled in a safe manner as has been the recent shenanigans of the NSCN (IM) as it seeks to muster agreements with the Eastern Nagas of South Arunachal Pradesh. These are all as a result of his stewardship.
Gen. Lakhera is one among many. A scholar-soldier who not only understands the Assamese and Naga psyche deeply, but even speaks Nagamese like an original inhabitant.
Lakhera will soon bid farewell to an expanse that he has been all along embracing as his own.Tears emanate as a result of his premature departure from a crucial theatre.
Let us salute this exceptional officer and gentleman who all in the North East has adopted as their very own.
