Army sends band,not marching unit,to Bihar I-day parade

This comes days after Bihar minister Bhim Singh’s remark — in the wake of the LoC killing — that “one joins Army or police for martyrdom”. He was later reprimanded by the chief minister and had to apologize. Bihar agriculture minister Narendra Singh later gave a clean chit to Pakistan over killing of five Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Said Abhayanand: “As far as my memory goes,Army always takes part in August 15 parade. They alone can explain why they did not attend this year. Their absence is unusual”. Bihar Regimental Centre Adjutant Lieutenant Colonel J J Lobo told The Indian Express: “It is true that Army took part in rehearsal for the parade. We take our orders from Jabalpur. We were told to ready our column as stand-by to be sent to flood-hit areas”. State government officials said that no request for Army’s help had gone out.

Asked if the decision not to attend the parade was linked to Bhim Singh’s statement,the BRC Adjutant said: “We are a non-political organization and are not influenced by such things”. He added that 75 jawans had to be sent for parade. “Sixty of them take part in the parade and the rest is stand-by. We did,in fact,send our military band but we got orders to be ready for flood areas at short notice.”