Kunhiraman Palat Candeth


Kunhiraman Palat Candeth, PVSM, best known as K. P. Candeth, was a senior army officer in the Indian Army who played a commanding role in annexation of Goa from Portuguese control in 1961, and briefly tenured as the Lieutenant Governor in Goa.
He later served as the Deputy Chief of Army Staff based on GHQ in New Delhi at the midst of the second war in 1965, and later effectively commanded the Western Command during the third war with Pakistan in 1971.

Early life

He was born in Ottapalam, Madras Presidency in British India to MA Candeth, being the grandson of the landlord and writer Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar. His maternal grandfather was Sir C. Sankaran Nair, who was the President of the Indian National Congress. He told a reporter during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 that "I am a Nair from Kerala. I am a Kshatriya". He had done his training at the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, Dehradun, where he was highly rated in the classroom and on the playing field. Candeth was commissioned in the British Indian Army on 30 August 1936 in 28 Field Brigade of the Royal Indian Artillery.

Military career

Pre-independence

Commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1936, Candeth saw action in West Asia during the Second World War. And, shortly before India's independence from colonial rule, he was deployed in the North West Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan, to quell local tribes. The mountainous terrain gave Candeth the experience for his later operations against Nagaland separatists in the North East. He attended the Military Services Staff College at Quetta, capital of Baluchistan in 1945.

Kashmir 1947

After Independence, Candeth was commanding an artillery regiment that was deployed to Jammu and Kashmir after Pakistan-backed tribesmen attacked and captured a third of the province before being forced back by the Indian Army. Thereafter, Candeth held a series of senior appointments, including that of Director General of Artillery at Army Headquarters in Delhi, to which he was appointed on 8 September 1959, with the acting rank of major-general.

Goa

Following Indian independence from British rule, certain parts of India were still under foreign rule. While the French left India in 1954, the Portuguese, however, refused to leave. After complex diplomatic pressure and negotiations had failed, finally on 18 December 1961 the Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's patience ran out and he sanctioned military action.
Kunhiraman Candeth earned his name in Operation Vijay—the Liberation of Goa, Daman and Diu from Portuguese rule. As 17 Infantry Division commander, Candeth took the colony within a day and was immediately appointed Goa's first Indian administrator, a post he held till 1963.

North East

After relinquishing charge as Goa's Military Governor in 1963, Candeth was appointed GOC, Nagaland on 23 August 1963. He took command of the newly raised 8 Mountain Division in the North-East on 15 November 1963, where he battled, although with little success, the highly organised Naga insurgents. The insurgency in the North East has not been quelled completely to this day. On 7 May 1965, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Army Staff with the acting rank of lieutenant-general. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 17 January 1966, and was appointed GOC-in-C, Western Command on 27 September 1969.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 that led to East Pakistan breaking away to become Bangladesh, Candeth, was the Western Army commander responsible for planning and overseeing operations in the strategically crucial regions of Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan where the fiercest fighting took place.

Awards

Lt. Gen. Kunhiraman Palat Candeth was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and also the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 1990s and was appointed a member of the Party's Executive Committee. He remained a bachelor till the end.

Dates of rank