With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleging that former Army Chief General (Retired) V.K. Singh is being targeted as he shared the dais at a rally in Rewari with its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi,
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday said its time the opposition parties stop playing politics in matters of national security.
"It's not a question of Mr. A or Mr. B. when a report which is in the public domain in a newspaper points out prima facie to very serious charges impinging on misuse of national security facilities, I think its time the opposition act more responsibly and jointly with us to get to the bottom of the issue," said Singhvi.
"It also raises a much larger issue. Unfortunately, the only distinguishing feature between India and all its neighbours is we have an anonymous army that we have a faceless army. This is the strength of our democracy. Once this kind of thing is allowed to develop or go into a political vortex, I think it will be a sad day and the beginning of the end of Indian democracy," he added.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday said the Defence Ministry's decision to order a probe against General (Retd.)V.K. Singh in connection with a media-based report that he had allegedly ordered a technical unit of the army to destabilize the Jammu and Kashmir Government when he was in office was completely unjustified.
"General V.K. Singh is being hounded because he was seen by the side of Narendra Modi. We caution the government to look into this, as this will result in a complete trust deficit in army and demoralize the army," she said, while questioning the timing.
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Confirming the findings of an army inquiry panel into the dubious workings of a secret intelligence unit set up in 2010 by General (Retd.) Singh, the government on Friday said it had taken steps to prevent such 'undesirable activities', but was yet to decide about ordering a CBI inquiry.
"The report impinges on matters of national security and, as such, the government will take a decisions and further actions after a careful examination of the report," said Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar, confirming that the government had received a report from Army Headquarters about the functioning of the now-disbanded unit called Technical Services Division (TSD).
"It is further clarified that the MoD has not taken any decision for a CBI inquiry into the issues raised in the army's report," Kar said.
Media reports has claimed that General (Retd.) Singh set up a special unit in the army which tried to destabilize the Jammu and Kashmir Government.
The report claims that a secret Board of Officers inquiry has recommended that the CBI look into the matter.
Media report also claims that the unit set up by General (Retd.) Singh called the Technical Services Division (TSD), a part of Military Intelligence, tried to block General Bikram Singh's promotion.
The reports said that the Board of Officers' recommendation has been examined by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Defence.
The report was prepared by Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia as part of a Board of Officers (BOO) formed by General Bikram Singh to review the functioning of the top secret unit set up under his predecessor.