Exclusive: Narendra Modi has betrayed the very trust of us soldiers: Army General on OROP
Written by Janta Ka Reporter
They call themsleves nationalists. If they were nationalists, they will honour the commitment made to the soldiers. Let Mr Modi come on TV to say that he doesn’t have money to pay to the soldiers, we will finish our agitation. But has he guts to say that to the country?” In an extraordinary development, as many as 11 Generals sat on hunger strike on Saturday with their demands on OROP. They were joined by 15 more Generals that included five Lt Generals, one Admiral of Indian Navy and 10 Major Generals on Sunday. Maj General Satbir said that the soldiers were determined to take their fight to its logical end adding that “we don’t leave the battlefield until we’ve either won or lost, or we are POWs or we’ve captured.” He said, “Military training has taught us to finish our task. There’s no middle ground.
It’s not a fight against the government. It’s a fight against injustice. 15 months time delay is unacceptable. We are hurt, we are angry with our prime minister, angry to the core. He’s gone back on his assurance. If his finance minister is not delivering, he should haul him up and tell him to clear the Rs 8300 crores. File is lying with the FM since 17 March 2015.”
The Generals were invited by the defence minister Manohar Parriker after the Army Chief General Suhag and the Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar reportedly intervened and facilitated the minister’s meeting with the protesting army veterans. Parriker has agreed to meet them again early next week. Maj Gen Satbir said that there were 6,75,000 widows of the defence forces and over 24 lakh retired officers adding that “these thirty lakh believed in Modi, who betrayed them spectacularly.”