The civilian leadership must show the statecraft to clarify its red lines where the military is concerned. Each time there is a major disagreement between a service chief and the government, the situation turns into a crisis and goes spiralling out of control. It happened in 1998 in the stand-off between defence minister George Fernandes and Navy chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. It is happening again with the unsettling row that started with the date of birth controversy of army chief General V K Singh.