Former army chief and now a minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet, General VK Singh, made an outrageous comment on Wednesday by questioning the mental condition of the soldier, who was forced to commit suicide on the issue of One Rank One Pension.
Singh was quoted as saying, “Reason for his suicide being reported is OROP. I don’t t know what his mental state was. It needs investigation.”
His remarks has earned him widespread condemnation with Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, launching a tirade against him.
Kejriwal said, “Shame on u VK Singh. He twice got medals from President and once from COAS. He was a decorated soldier.”
Senior Congress leader RPN Singh said it was “unbecoming” of a former army chief to bring the mental state of a deceased veteran into question.
“It is unfortunate that a former army chief is raising such questions,” the former Union Minister said.
General VK Singh is not new to controversy. As the army chief he had taken on the then UPA government just so he could continue in his job a year longer.
After retiring from the armed forces, General Singh joined the BJP and no one was surprised.
He was elected from Ghaziabad in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and was appointed a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
But, it was after he became a minister, his perceived outrageous comments made many to question just how he had managed to lead an otherwise glorious Indian army.
In October last year, the controversial retired army general had caused massive controversy with his insensitive statement making light of the gruesome murder of two Dalit kids in Haryana.
The former army chief reportedly implied that the burning of Dalit kids in Haryana was as small an incident as hitting a dog with stones.
“Agar koi kutte ko patthar maar de to sarkaar zimmedaar nahi hai (government can’t be responsible if someone hits a dog with stones),” he was quoted by several TV channels.
VK Singh was commenting in response to a question on the burning alive of two dalit kids in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh district last Tuesday.
This is not the first time VK Singh or the members of the ruling party at the centre have created controversy by making extremely controversial comments.
Earlier this year, Singh’s ‘presstitute’ remarks against a section of the Indian media had led to a national outrage.
Earlier this year, Singh had asked media to go and beat up Karan Johar instead of chasing him for reaction on his intolerance comments.
According to a PTI report, Gen Singh reportedly said this while being repeatedly asked to react to Johar’s comments.
News agency ANI had reported, “jao uski pitaayi karo, mujhse kyon poocchte ho (Why asking me? Go and beat him up).”
Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter