The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on Wednesday launched a fresh set of attacks on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance 2 (UPA-II) for allegedly leaking to the media an inaccurate story about a coup allegedly being plotted by the army seven years ago, in 2012, based on the report published by The Sunday Guardian.
The Report published in the Sunday Guardian said, “The top leadership of the UPA 2 government, in the last few months of 2011 and early 2012, had informally indicated to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to try and establish that the Army, under its chief, General V.K. Singh, was attempting a coup to topple the government. This was at a time when the UPA 2 government was reeling under charges of immense corruption and the Anna Hazare movement was going on”.
Addressing the media, BJP leader, GVL Narasimha Rao, said the ‘coup story’ was not just a political conspiracy but also an attempt to defame the Indian Army.
“In January 2012, there were media reports that claimed that the Indian Army was staging a coup against the then Manmohan Singh government. The stories were planted by senior leaders of the Congress party, including certain Cabinet ministers,” Rao said as reported by Hindustan Times.
General (retired) VK Singh, who was the Indian Army chief back then during the UPA-II, lashed out at the Congress-led previous government. VK Singh who is the minister in the current Narendra Modi led Central Government said those behind the entire act was ‘willing to openly destroy the institution of the army to achieve personal objectives”
He added in a Facebook post, “Even today, though six years have passed, there should be a detailed enquiry and the guilty brought to book. The age-old saying that truth must always prevail is timeless. It’s a shame so many people who played games and falsified news, are even today not accountable. In the interest of our country’s future where fake news is such a major threat, it is imperative to take action at the very root of this evil especially when all the evidence is there in the public domain”
The BJP also took to Twitter to target Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
Plotting a coup is 1st order treason. But the Congress had no qualms taking this route to gratify its perpetual hunger for power!
Was it authorized by then party VP @RahulGandhi? On whose behest was he acting?
We demand an answer! https://t.co/1LMS8nIn6I
— BJP (@BJP4India) February 6, 2019
“Plotting a coup is 1st order treason. But the Congress had no qualms taking this route to gratify its perpetual hunger for power! Was it authorized by then party VP @RahulGandhi? On whose behest was he acting? We demand an answer,” the BJP tweeted.