Indian armed forces being dragged into Indian elections?

Dubai: More than 150 retired officers of the Indian army, air force and navy have purportedly written to the country’s President Ram Nath Kovind, requesting the Supreme Commander to instruct the political parties not to misuse the military in their political campaign during the Parliamentary election.

On Friday, many Indian media outlets published the reports sharing a letter that was purportedly signed by 150 armed forces veterans – including three former army chiefs, four former navy chiefs and a former air force chief.

Indian tweeps who shared the letter agreed that politicising the armed forces was not acceptable.

However, when contacted, the President House denied receiving any such letter. According to a report by Indian newspaper, Deccan Herald: “When DH contacted Rashtrapati Bhawan, sources said that the President House received no such letter. Furthermore, at least three of the eight former Service Chiefs have also denied signing the letter and have clarified that they don’t endorse its contents.”

Hours after the letter surfaced on Whatsapp groups and social media channels, veteran officers including Air Chief Marshal NC Suri, General Sunith Francis Rodrigues, a retired Indian army officer who was Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1990 to 1993 and Governor of Punjab from 2004 to 2010. Former Army Vice Chief Lt General ML Naidu, who is mentioned at 20th in the list of armed forces veterans who purportedly signed the letter, denied signing any such letter. Their videos and comments of these statements were shared by Indian news agency, Asian News International (ANI), on Twitter.

Following this, Twitter user @MajChowdhury who had first shared the contents of the letter on Twitter, shared screenshots of purported email conversations with officers who had denied signing the letter.

However, according to Indian paper the Economic Times: “Other veterans listed in the letter confirmed that they endorse the contents.”

The article further quoted former Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta as saying: “Yes, the letter is correct and I have signed it.”

According to News18: “Major General Harsha Kakkar, 31st on the list of signatories, said he had signed the letter. “Yes, I had given my consent for being a signatory to the letter. I had given my consent only after knowing the contents of it.”

“In the letter, the veterans said it was a matter of considerable concern and disquiet among both the serving and the retired personnel that the armed forces are being used to pursue political agenda. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently referred to the armed forces as ‘Modiji ki Sena’ (Modi’s army) at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh, triggering strong reactions from the opposition parties. The Election Commission too also took strong objection to the comments. In the letter, the military veterans also expressed disappointment over the usage of photos of Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman and other soldiers at election campaigns.”