UPA government gags three Army chiefs from media interaction
Taking into consideration the recent terror attacks, defence minister AK Antony has asked the three army chiefs to tone down their conversation with the media, as reported by a leading Indian daily.
ONE OF the leading newspapers of India has come out with the news that the Defence Minister AK Antony in a confidential communication to the three Army Chiefs has told them to scale down their media interaction to bare minimum.
Needless to say in today’s world of hyper media communication to gag Army chiefs this way is a derogatory move denying people of India their right to know about the state of countries security. After all what is this Government trying to hide?
The ostensible reason given by the bureaucrats sitting in Ministry of Defense (MOD) is that aim is to curb loose comments that create needless problems for the government. It was further clarified that no one in military should speak out of turn on contentious issues or policies which are still being formulated. What policies are these people talking about? Do they really have any policy?
Army Chiefs will only be expressing their views on Strategic issues and the matters military. In any case what knowledge if any Indian netas have about external threat perceptions, security and warfare? As for their bureaucrat advisers in MOD they are equally clueless. Besides these bureaucrats are transient birds without accountability who before coming to MOD may have had a stint is fishery Department or Child Care.
The Army chief Commanding the second largest Army in the World, Air Chief Commanding the fourth largest Air Force in The World and the Navy chief commanding fifth largest Navy in the world are experts in art of warfare and the Grand strategy. They are not some Village Panchayat Heads who will not know the international repercussions of any of their incorrect statements.
Talking of loose cannons. Very recently Indian Foreign Minister Krishna in the UN gathering read out the speech of Israeli Foreign Minister for full three minutes in presence of all the world delegates before the mistake was noticed. In the recent press conference of Dr Man Mohan Singh he inadvertently made some remarks for which entire Bangladesh is annoyed with us.
The Congress Prince in waiting for the PMs chair, Rahul Gandhi gave a statement in context of 13/7 Mumbai serial blasts that come what may it will not be possible to stop all terror attacks. If so then how come in America no terror attack has taken place after 9/11 and in Britain after 2005?
These political Gaffes including PM Manmohan Singh accepting in Sharem-el –Shiek summit meeting with Pakistani PM Gilani that India is ready for talks on Indian interference in Baluchistan or for that matter accepting joint terror investigation proposal of Pakistan, if all these major howlers did not damage India then what problems these chiefs would have caused that they must be gagged?
This diktat supposedly had come in the back drop of the Indian Military leadership in recent days speaking about the Indian Armed Forces also being capable of launching Abbottabad type operation as well as need for New Delhi to remove the existing cap of 5,000 km on strategic missiles and develop ICBMs having 10,000 km range.
Both these policy statements are very crucial for India’s security. Yes India has the capability to launch “OP Geronimo” type operation. When said by Army chief it acquires great credibility. That is why Pakistan has reacted vehement- ally and threatened of dire consequences. However the right message has gone home to Pakistan which has its own deterrence value. Similarly if we do not have ICBMs like what China has then how we can rise above the level of regional power?
Unlike our netas firing from the hip in media interaction and then backtracking that they never made such a statement or that they were misquoted, Indian Army Chiefs before holding a press Conference prepare themselves thoroughly. In the current day world, thanks to media the World has become a Global village. In India alone there are more than 24 channels working round the clock. Besides India with 74 corer youth below 35 years of age is the youngest country in the World. This youth only has got 72% literacy. They cannot be denied information.
We are today a super power in information technology. In this media overload it is very important that Indian people must know the real state of countries defence as against rumours or falsehood. We must become transparent to the extent possible. Only then we can expect youth of India to sacrifice for their country when need arises. It is their future. The gentrocracy currently ruling this country would have been dead and gone.
We must not forget that a politician gets elected for 5 years with no guarantee that he will be elected again. A bureaucrat has no accountability in our system.
Ultimately Army Chiefs are the ones who are answerable to the country. So why should they not express their views? We do not want a repeat of Himalayan Blunder of 1962 created by then politician bureaucrat combine with Army suffering in silence.
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