PEight former service chiefs and 148 other military veterans have written to President Ram Nath Kovind, expressing outrage over what they termed using the armed forces for political purposes.
The signatories of the letter included former Army chiefsGeneral (retired) SF Rodrigues, General (retired) Shankar Roy Chowdhury andGeneral (retired) Deepak Kapoor, former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal (retired)NC Suri.
Three former Navy chiefs Admiral (retired) L Ramdas, Admiral(retired) Arun Prakash, Admiral (retired) Mehta and Admiral (retired) VishnuBhagwat also signed the letter, which was sent to Kovind on Thursday.
“We refer, Sir, to the unusual and completelyunacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for militaryoperations like cross-border strikes and even going so far as to claim thearmed forces to be ‘Modi ji ki sena’,” the veterans wrote.
The military veterans said it was a matter of considerableconcern and disquiet among both the serving and the retired personnel that thearmed forces are being used to pursue political agenda.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recentlyreferred to the armed forces as “Modiji ki Sena” at an election rallyin Uttar Pradesh, triggering strong reactions from the opposition parties.
The Election Commission too also took strong objection tothe comments.
In the letter, the military veterans also expresseddisappointment over the usage of photos of Indian Air Force pilot AbhinandanVarthaman and other soldiers at election campaigns.