Letter on 'politicisation' of Army lost credibility after senior veterans denied involvement: Defence Minister

Apr 17, 2019

New Delhi, Apr 17 (ANI): Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking on the Army veterans’ letter on ‘politicisation’ of Armed forces, said that the ‘credibility’ of the letter has been lost as senior veterans have denied their involvement in writing the letter. Sitharaman, however, said that it is the prerogative of every veteran to ‘contact the Supreme Commander (President)’, and that there was no dispute on it. “The point is, no one ever disputes veterans contacting or writing to the Supreme Commander...It is well within every veteran's prerogative to contact the Supreme Commander. But the problem is, especially when it is election time all of us will have to be conscious we don't give rise to questions of credibility & in the letter even if one individual says, 'I haven't signed it', my worry is that credibility of whole appeal is lost,” Sitharaman told ANI Editor Smita Prakash in an exclusive interview.