Major General Sunil Vombatkere, who led the campaign of military veterans against the alleged politicisation of the armed forces ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections expressed surprise on Saturday over three of his former colleagues backing off a day after endorsing the letter sent to President Ram Nath Kovind, while mentioning that their initial words of support were recorded in an email chain.
"I really cannot say why they are distancing themselves from the letter. They may have their own reasons, and I respect them. But I have recorded the consent of all the veterans to whom I sent the emails," Vombatkere told NDTV.
Former Air Chief Marshal NC Suri and retired Army chief General SF Rodrigues on Friday denied endorsing the letter written by 156 ex-military personnel, including nine retired service chiefs, to the President. Rashtrapati Bhavan sources too said that the Kovind's office had not received the letter.
“We have received only one letter which is from former service chief N C Suri who has conveyed to us that he has not signed any letter on the issue. We have not received any other letter,” the sources said.
“It is worrying if people’s consent is being taken and fake letters with fake allegations are being signed by some vested interest groups. It is absolutely condemnable,” remarked Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday on the whole development.
Vombatkere also dismissed Suri's claim that the letter was not shown to him before being sent to President on Thursday. "Suri would have seen it in the mail because it was there along with other veterans' emails. It was not sent to him alone," Vombatkere said.
He also expressed wonder over the President's office's claims of not receiving the e-mail.
"The email was sent by Major Priyadarshi Chowdhury to three addresses in Rashtrapati Bhavan. If I recall right, one of them is presidentofindia@rb.nic.in. I do not know how they have not received it. That's not clear to me at all."
Former Air Chief Marshal NC Suri said that his support on the whole campaign was very specific in context. "Please understand that my statement was merely in the context that the armed forces must continue to be apolitical and serve through a democratically elected government. That's all I endorsed," he told the media.
The issue got confounded further with Admiral Suresh Mehta, Lt gen ML Naidu, Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, and few others, accepting they had consented to the text the letter contained.
Suri also refused to comment on UP CM Yogi Adityanath's alleged reference to the Indian Army as "Modiji ki Sena (PM Narendra Modi's soldiers)", saying that he does not know enough of the issue to make a statement on it.
The letter addressed to President said, “We refer to the unusual and completely unacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes, and even going so far as to claim the Armed Forces to be Modi ji ki Sena.”
The letter appealed the President to ensure the secular and apolitical character of the Forces is preserved.
(With Inputs from ENS)