1. This week saw the Sonia Gandhi led UPA fiddling with yet another institution. This time it was the Army. It all started with this interview of the Army Chief, General V.K.Singh. In the interview to The Hindu, he revealed that he was offered a bribe of Rs. 14 crore. Since parliament was in session, the opposition picked up this issue immediately. They demanded an explanation from the defence minister, Mr. A.K.Antony. The defence minister tells the parliament that when he first heard this from the Army chief, he was shocked. And upon recovering, he asked the Army chief if he wants to pursue further. The Army chief apparently said no, and the defence minister closed the matter!! And on top of this, to sound sanctimonious, A.K.Antony says - "If I am wrong, you may punish me.". And since the opposition created an uproar, he ordered a CBI enquiry into this.
And then it was revealed that Sonia Gandhi, through Ghulam Nabi Azad, asked the Defense minister to probe the corruption allegations regarding the procrurement of Tatra trucks in 2009! And since then there has been no follow-up. Antony said he ordered a probe based on that letter only in Feb 2012.
The mess did not end here. There was another leak. The Army chief has written to the Prime Minister alerting him to the woeful shortage of latest infrastructure in the Army. As usual, the Prime Minister doesn't seem to have done anything on this important letter - even after the letter said that we are not fully ready for a night war! All hell broke lose, because many people thought that the General leaked this letter and therefore started wronging him. The General then said that this leakage of the letter should be treated as "high treason". Later the Defence minister also termed this act as "anti-national" and ordered an IB probe. We are yet to find out who leaked the letter.
Now, as is always the case with our public discourse, the debate centered around who leaked the letter and not on the contents of the letter! There was little debate on our preparedness and the morale of the armed forces. This whole week, we were just witness to a incompetent minister who looked like he was just hoping this controversy will die without him doing anything. Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister have as always not uttered a word. It was left to the Army chief to sound the compromise note. And once General V.K.Singh retires, we will pretend as if all this never happened! That's all, your honour!
1 comments:
Can be accredited to none other than a CONGRESS Government. That they chose to rub the wrong side of the Army shows their callow and shallow quality in governance. Having a Defense Minister who was more of a frog in a well back in his home state until his religion favored him speaks more of the foresight of the Government than the nominee himself.
What to say more but "Yes, your honor"!!! :):)
They have discredited the Army enough and to regain that somewhat lost grandeur will take immense time.
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