New Delhi: The war between the Narendra Modi government and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee saw another front opening on Friday when defence minister Manohar Parrikar said the Trinamul chief’s remarks on the Army at toll gates in West Bengal could “adversely” impact the morale of the forces”. Ms Banerjee was quick to take “strong exception” to the defence minister’s letter.
The West Bengal CM and her Trinamul Congress party has already been at loggerheads with the government on demonetisation.
“Your allegations in this regard run the risk of adversely impacting the morale of the country’s armed forces and the same was not expected from a person of your standing and experience in public life,” Mr Parrikar said in his strongly-worded letter. In it, he said that while political parties and politicians had the luxury of making “wild and unsubstantiated allegations against each other”, one must be extremely careful while referring to the armed forces.
Ms Banerjee had accused the Central government of having deployed the Army at toll plazas in West Bengal without informing the state government and described it as “unprecedented” and “a very serious situation... worse than the Emergency”. She had refused to leave her office in Kolkata till the Armymen were withdrawn from the toll plazas and had asked whether it was an “Army coup”, that drew a sharp reaction from the Centre.
Mr Parrikar said the West Bengal CM’s objection was an “avoidable controversy” as the exercise was carried out by the Eastern Command in West Bengal and other states under its jurisdiction to collect information on movement of heavy vehicles at toll gates. “It is carried out by all formations of the Army all across the country for many years,” he said.
“I have been deeply pained by your allegations as reported in the media. If only you had enquired with the agencies concerned of the state government, you would have come to know of the extensive correspondence between the Army and state agencies, including the joint inspection of sites carried out by them,” the defence minister said.
In a statement, Ms Banerjee said: “I take strong exception to your wild assertion that my articulation of rights of the state government has impacted the morale of the armed forces.” She added: “Your general observations about political parties and politicians (having) the luxury of making wild and unsubstantiated allegations may be apt for your party, but we do not belong to that group.”
The Trinamul chief also said the defence ministry had not taken prior permission from the state government for any large deployment of Army personnel in civilian areas.
