Govt: No crisis over troops’ Jan. march
Defence minister A.K. Antony and Navy Chief Adm. Nirmal Verma meet the officers at a ceremony for induction of the Russian-
Terming “alarmist” a newspaper report that the Army had moved two units towards New Delhi in mid-January without informing the government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday that such reports “should not be taken at face value”. Defence minister A.K. Antony, speaking at the launch of the nuclear-powered submarine INS Chakra in Visakhapatnam, also called it “absolutely baseless”, and said the movement was “usual natural activity” and “nothing unusual”. The armed forces, he said, would “not do anything to undermine democracy”.
Defence and security experts, meanwhile, rubbished speculation that the movement of troops from Hisar and Agra in January this year indicated a possible attempted coup. All major political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, criticised “media speculation in sensitive matters”, but the BJP also expressed concern that “the relationship between the Army and the political leadership is at an all-time low”.
The PM said: “The Army Chief (holds) an exalted office. All of us have an obligation to do nothing that would lower its dignity.” The news report said a mechanised infantry unit based in Haryana’s Hisar was moved to Bahadurgarh near Delhi, while a part of the Agra-based Para brigade (commandos) was moved near Palam, which was described by the Army as a winter exercise to test movement in acute fog conditions.
Mr Antony said in Vizag: “The Army has already explained... It is usual, natural activities. Nothing unusual. We are absolutely confident of the patriotism of the armed forces. Don’t question their patriotism.” He urged the media “not to lower the dignity of the armed forces on issues of national security”, but was evasive when asked if the defence secretary sought an explanation from the Army’s director-general of military operations. Mr Antony merely said: “The end result was: there was nothing amiss, and no communication gap” between the Army and the government.
A highly-decorated retired officer, Lt. Gen. Shankar Prasad, noted that “when there are six infantry battalions in the capital, there is no need to requisition troops from outside to foment trouble”. He added: “With 30,000 Army personnel stationed in and around New Delhi, it would be extremely difficult for troops from just two centres to orchestrate a coup.” Former IB additional director M.K. Dhar adopted a similar line, saying: “The IB tracks every movement of an Army column anywhere in the country, and immediately alerts the MoD, which sends a report to the PMO.” Even in this case, the “IB had informed the MoD well in time, and subsequently the PMO was also told”.
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