Defenceless
The episode of the army chief reporting the bribe offer to the defence minister is a new chapter in the UPA governments tale of inefficiency. Merely being honest is not sufficient to be defence minister. A defence minister has to be shrewd,practical and extremely alert. Kickbacks in large-scale procurements have been seen in the past. It was probably for his honesty alone that the UPA chose A.K. Antony not for his knowledge of defence matters or proven acumen.
Mathew Oommen
Too good men?
FORMER Defence Minister Jaswant Singh has echoed the anguish of the people,telling the UPA governments two good men,Manmohan Singh and A.K. Antony,that the nation is weary of their good nature and craves good governance (Governance,please,IE,March 29). But,alas,the habits of silence,indecision and incoherence,are too deeply set to suddenly transform these good men into the ones to provide meaningful governance.
M. Ratan
New Delhi
THE army chief General V.K. Singh and Defence Minister A.K. Antony,both seem to be responsible for the current embarrassment. The general is wrong for not pursuing the matter as advised and Antony for not immediately recording a note on his meeting with the chief and keeping the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the PM apprised of the matter. He should not have slept on it till Singh went public. Ordering a CBI probe hastily also seems wrong. Antony seems more interested in upholding his own clean image rather than doing his duty.
Yash P. Verma
Pune
Note the timing
THIS refers to the editorial Cease fire (IE,March 30). Its most unfortunate and shameful that the row between the government and the army chief escalated to such a murky point. One only wonders why General V.K. Singh,on the verge of retirement,has been bombarding the government with complaints about corruption and inaction on the deficiencies in Indias defence preparedness. All this only when the general knows he is to leave office in just a months time. He seems to be taking revenge on the government over his humiliation in the date of birth case.
R.K. Kapoor
APROPOS Cease fire,how can the prime minister and defence minister invite the army chief for a little chat if he does not stop firing broadsides at them? The general is deliberately hitting where it hurts. All these issues could have been easily sorted out in the privacy of the high walls in South Block. But the general wanted to score a point over the government in full public view.
Tarsem Singh
New Delhi
