Govt-army ties at an all-time low, blogs Advani

Terming as "extremely alarming" the media report of two army units moving towards Delhi without notifying the government in January this year, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Friday said it shows that the government-army ties are at an all time low and highlights the "trust deficit" in establishment circles.

"If one reads the April 4 report thoroughly, and the several follow-up stories published on April 5, one would have to concede that the reports are extremely alarming," Advani wrote on his blog on Friday.

He shared the BJP spokesperson's view that "government-army ties are at an all time low".

"(It) does highlight how deep is the trust deficit pervading the establishment circles these days," Advani said.

There was an unusual movement of a mechanised infantry unit from Hisar in Haryana and a sizeable section of 50 para brigade from Agra on the night of January 16-17 towards the capital.

...

Advani, however, expressed relief that the Indian Express report itself "has taken pains to dispel emphatically any sinister meaning being read into the story".

"It (the report) has said that no one `is using the 'C' word to imply anything other than 'curious'," Advani wrote on his blog.

The BJP leader, however, took the opportunity to lash out at former home minister Buta Singh while reminding a 1989 episode when he tried to call in the army ahead of dissolving the Lok Sabha after the Congress lost the election and Rajiv Gandhi was ousted as prime minister.

"Lt Governor Bhandari may plead innocence. But the then Union home minister Buta Singh cannot. That he did initiate a move to call in the army on the basis of a concocted story becomes evident from the LG's own testimony," Advani said.

Advani cites the incident narrated to him by his friend and neighbour Vijai Kapoor, former Lt governor of the Union Territory of Delhi, about how in 1989, following the defeat of Rajiv Gandhi's government, Buta Singh initiated a serious move to call in the army and how it was aborted.

While Kapoor at that time was the chief secretary of Delhi, Advani cites the autobiography of the then Lt Governor of Delhi Romesh Bhandari, where he recalls the incident and clarified that he had nothing to do with calling in the army.

Bhandari had said that on the pretext of rumours about lakhs of kisans from Haryana and western UP being mobilised by Ajit Singh and others to march into Delhi and gherao Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhavan, Buta Singh had asked the LG to take immediate action.

...