In the wake of the recent controversy over the contention of former Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd) that the Army has been transferring money to ministers in Jammu and Kashmir since Independence for “stabilising work” eight former Army chiefs on Friday made it clear that no such funds were paid by the Army to politicians or any NGO during their respective tenures as Army Chief. The statement is being seen as countering the assertion of Gen. V.K. Singh.
The joint statement issued by former Army Chiefs Generals O.P. Malhotra, S.F. Rodrigues, Shankar Roychowdhury, V.P. Malik, S. Padmanabhan, N.C. Vij, J.J. Singh and Deepak Kapoor, said: “No funds were ever provided by the Army, to any politicians, political party or any NGO in their tenures and nor would they have allowed that. This aspect should not be mixed with ‘Sadhbhavna’ operations, which are carried out to provide infrastructure, education and health services etc to the local populace in J&K and for this both pre and post audited funds, with laid down deliverables and procedures, are allotted in the defence budget. They further stressed that the Indian Army is completely apolitical and that they do not dabble in politics and the Army takes great pride in this time honoured tradition.”
When contacted by this newspaper, Gen. (Retd) Shankar Roychowdhury confirmed that these eight former Army Chiefs including himself had been in touch with each other on the issue to make their stand clear. “This is how we feel on the matter,” he said.
Gen. V.K. Singh had recently said that the Army transfers money to some of the ministers in J&K but that this is for welfare work including that for the youth of the state and that the money was not being paid as a bribe. Nevertheless, Gen. Singh’s statements had become controversial. The statement now by the eight former chiefs is being seen as an effort to put the record straight in view of the recent controversy.