India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Rubbishing the news of two army units moving towards the national capital in January, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said he had full confidence in the patriotism of the Indian armed forces, adding that they would do nothing to undermine the democracy of the country. “Absolutely baseless…. the army has already explained this…. it is a usual, natural activity…nothing unusual and we are absolutely confident of the patriotism of our Indian armed forces, don’t question their patriotism. They will not do anything to undermine Indian democracy. They are true patriots. Don’t question the patriotism of the soldiers who are dying for the country at the frontiers. I am proud of Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard,” said Antony here at the induction ceremony of the Russian-origin nuclear power submarine ‘Nepra’ a.k.a. ‘Chakra’ into the India Navy. According to the Indian Express report, the two-army units moved towards New Delhi without notifying the government on January 16. While the army described it as a routine fog-time exercise, an investigation by the newspaper reveals the incident took place hours after Chief of Army Staff General V.K. Singh had moved the Supreme Court on his age controversy. The paper further cites central intelligence agencies as reporting an unexpected movement by a key military unit from the mechanised infantry based in Hisar, Haryana, on January 16. Routine lookouts confirmed the movement of an entire unit of the Mechanised Infantry with Russian-made Armoured Fighting Vehicles carried on 48 tank transporters. The report also said that a unit of the Agra-based 50 Para Brigade was also moved. The Indian Express claims that Defence Minister A.K. Antony was informed of the movement and immediately put in motion an old contingency plan -- by issuing a terror alert that entailed more police checking of vehicles and a slowing down of traffic.

Antony rubbishes army movement report, says confident of armed forces patriotism