In 1962, the Defence Ministry was in the hands of Krishna Menon, a suave gentleman with a longstanding reputation of being an astute diplomat. Menon, like any diplomat would, wanted a negotiated settlement of border dispute with China. He disagreed with Generals and as they say rest is history. In the current times, another suave diplomat Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is in disagreement with the military leadership and says that “a solution for the ongoing border conflict between India and China would only be found through the domain of diplomacy.” These words may not be music to the ears of hawks within the government specially the National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who is seen as patron angel of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Chief of Army Staff General MM Narvane. Moreover, Jaishankar’s observation are like a discordant note when the establishment is bent on orchestrating an aggressive narrative vis-à-vis China.