NEW DELHI, Mar 28:
Tensions between Army Chief Gen V K Singh and the Government escalated today over the leak of his letter to the Prime Minister on national security, trigerring demands for his removal as Defence Minister A K Antony promised “appropriate action”.
For the second day, Rajya Sabha was thrown into a tumult after a media report on the purported contents of the letter in which Gen Singh had reportedly said the country’s security may be at stake forcing the top leadership of the government to go into a huddle with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Today’s development came on top of an acrimony between the Army Chief and the government in the last two days over his media interview in which he had claimed that he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore by a retired Lt Gen for swinging a sub-standard defence deal.
“I have made serious note of the observations. After consulting the Prime Minister and colleagues, we will take appropriate action,” Antony said after members expressed serious concerns over issues of national security, a confidential matter, being being brought to public domain through media leaks.
JD (U) member Shivanand Tiwari demanded the Army Chief’s removal while Pyari Mohan Mohanpatra said “people who are to be sacked should be sacked immediately”.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said those responsible for the leak should be held accountable irrespective of the position held by them.
Though the Congress party steered clear of the controversy, Union Minister Vyalar Ravi attacked Gen Singh saying his actions reflected “frustrations” of an individual who had to withdraw his petition on the age row in the Supreme Court.
Gen Singh was away from the capital on an official visit to Jammu and Kashmir and paid obeisance at the Vaishnao Devi temple.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, the Army Chief has reportedly contended that the entire tank fleet is “devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks”, the air defence is “97 per cent obsolete” and the infantry is crippled with “deficiencies of crew served weapon” and lacks “night fighting” capabilities.
Gen Singh has also alleged that there is “hollowness” in the procedures and processing time for procurements as well as legal impediments by vendors.
The BJP attacked Gen Singh for writing a letter to the Prime Minister directly on the state of affairs in the Army, which is a breach of discipline.
The issue of the contents of the letter appearing in the media rocked Rajya Sabha with members terming it as “disturbing” and “serious” and demanding that the government should take action against those responsible “whatever position he holds”.
In his reply, Antony confirmed that the Army Chief had written to the Prime Minister on March 12 drawing his “attention to issues related to national defence and security.”
He said “these issues are under the consideration of the Ministry of Defence. By very nature of these issues, they cannot be a matter of public debate.
Assuring members, Antony said, “Government is committed to do all that is necessary for the security of the nation. Government will do everything possible to ensure that our defence forces become the best fighting forces in the world.”
“Publishing the contents of secret communications within the government cannot serve our national security,” he said about the report over the leaked letter in the media.
Antony said successive governments have attached the highest priority to the defence preparedness of the nation.
“Our defence preparedness has always been strong and I can assure the House and the nation that it is our intention to keep it strong.
“The government has spared no effort and will do everything necessary to ensure that our defence forces are provided, equipped and trained to be amongst the best fighting forces in the world,” he said.
Assuring the members that the government is continuously taking steps to tighten the loose ends in the procurement process, Antony said procurements are being undertaken under the integrity pact put in place three years ago, which covers a contract of even Rs 100 crore.
He said if there is any violation, actions like blacklisting and cancellation of contracts are taken.
Antony said the Government will not leave any room for anybody to makes compromise over integrity and transparency.
“If some such thing comes to our notice, whoever it may be, Government will take strong action. I can assure the House of that.
“On the other hand, while doing that, we equally take care to speed up the modernisation of Armed Forces, because only by doing that we can be assured of our national security and we can protect every inch of our motherland. On that too, we would not compromise,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitely said while he agreed with the Defence Minister that utmost restraint has to be exercised but felt that too many pieces of disturbing information were coming in the media relating to the integrity of the procurement process.
I would urge him to once again attach utmost priority to the fact that there are no malpractices in this.
“The second question is with regard to the preparedness. Once contents of letters, which are otherwise intended to be secret and must be kept secret, find their place into the media, then there is an alarmist situation which is created because some of the facts which have been mentioned in those news-reports are extremely disturbing with regard to defence preparedness.
“I am sure, the Defence Minister would look into all those facts, and, therefore, wherever there are any shortcomings, he would make sure that those are plugged and the procurement process because of other collateral controversies does not suffer at all,” he said.
Yechury said the fact that a sensitive issue like a letter containing facts about nation’s security and written by Army Chief to the Prime Minister gets leaked, is a matter of “utmost concern” and something that needs to be inquired.
Mahapatra of the BJD said the government should take immediate action.
“There is no scope for inquiry. It can take years. Whatever has to be done, it has to be done in hours not days,” he said adding “people who are to be sacked should be sacked” immediately under Article 311 B and C of Constitution.
Maintaining that Indian forces have never indulged in politics, JD-U leader Shivanand Tiwari said it would set a wrong precedent if such things are allowed and the Government will have to take some tough steps in this regard.
Earlier during Question Hour, Tiwari said the Army chief should be dismissed.
RJD and Samajwadi Party sought the dismissal of Army Chief for the leak of his letter to the Prime Minister.
“He (General) should be sacked immediately. Why he was silent all these days if there was shortage of ammunition,” RJD supremo Lalu Prasad asked while talking to reporters outside Parliament.
Describing the Army Chief as a “frustrated” man, he said, “It seems the General wants to fight elections. If there are any issues concerning the forces then he should have taken the Defence Minister into confidence. There is a huge investment on defence forces.”
The RJD chief further said, “He should remain within his limits.”
Terming the development as very “serious and sensitive”, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav also demanded sacking of the Army Chief.
“People always have faith in our forces. It is a very serious and sensitive issue as far as letter is concerned which states that 97 per cent of our ammunition is not good, SP leader said.
He said the responsibility should be fixed for the leakage of the letter and whoever is responsible, action should be taken against him.
“If Army Chief is responsible for it which prima facie suggests… He should be sacked immediately. If this kind of indiscipline grows in Army then it will be a dangerous trend for the country.”
However, Yadav said the development is a also a sign of weak leadership.
Expressing concern, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said, “It has never happened in the last 63 years. We are very concerned over the development. This is a very serious issue and whatever is happening is not good.” (PTI)
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