 "Didn't say those calling Indian Army 'Modiji ki sena' are traitors, clarifies VK Singh, claims remarks made in BBC interview twisted")
Union minister of state for external affairs and BJP candidate from Ghaziabad General (Retired) VK Singh had triggered a controversy on Thursday after he purportedly
told BBC Hindi in an interview
that anyone who called the Indian Army ‘Modi_ji ki sena_’ was not only wrong but also a traitor — a statement he has now denied and called out the channel for “distorting” his comments. In reference to Uttar Pradesh chief minister
Yogi Adityanath’s remark
calling the army ‘Modi_ji ki sena_’, Singh allegedly had said: “If someone says that the Indian Army is Modi’s army, then he is not only wrong but also a traitor to the country. India’s Army belongs to the country, it does not belong to a political party.” He added that those leaders who do such a thing, “don’t even know what they have said”. [caption id=“attachment_2961058” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
File image of Union Minister VK Singh. PTI[/caption] The Union Minister also advised fellow politicians against mixing armed forces with political work while addressing the people. “If you talk about India’s military, talk about India’s military. Sometimes when we speak of political workers, we say Modi’s Army or BJP’s Army. There is a difference,” he was quoted as saying by BBC. Singh said the Indian Army is impartial and has always been. “Don’t know who is saying all this. There are one or two people who say things like these because they do not have anything else.” During a rally on 1 April, Adityanath had said, “Congress ke log aatankwadiyon ko biryani khilate hain aur Modi ji ki sena aatankwadiyon ko goli aur gola deti hai (The Congress government used to serve biryani to terrorists and Modi ji’s army sends bullets and bombs their way),” Adityanath had said. LOK SABHA ELECTION 2019 TRACKER: Who is campaigning where
The Election Commission of India had
issued a notice to Adityanath
on Wednesday for his remarks. The commission said that the speech was not in direct violation but had flouted the EC order, which asked parties to desist from “indulging in any political propaganda” involving activities of the defence forces. It had asked the chief minister to respond till 5 pm on 5 April. Meanwhile, Singh slammed BBC as he tweeted: “BBC has done the same thing for which I had used the presstitute word. I have a record of what I said. Either the reporter was sleeping or he deliberately cut and pasted things to make a wrong statement,” asking how much money was given for this distortion of his comment.
Singh had earlier courted controversy four years ago for calling the news media “presstitutes” when his statement — “visiting the Pakistan high commission was more exciting than evacuating Indians” from Yemen — made headlines.