This is a story you would tell with extreme care and caution. But it so
starkly characterises the current state of top-level politico-military
relations that it will be a folly to keep it under wraps, as the entire
establishment has tried to do for a full 11 weeks now. It has also taken
Jest Kidding that long to establish the story and the dramatic
developments during say about 18 very difficult hours on 16-17 January,
2012 earlier this year when Raisina Hill was “spooked”.
Essentially, late on the night of 16 January, 2012 (the day Army chief General VK Singh approached the Supreme Court on his date of birth issue), Central Intelligence agencies reported an unexpected (and non-notified) movement of 48 Army trucks belonging to the mechanised infantry based in Hisar (Haryana) in the direction of the capital, 150 km away.
The trucks were filled with several tonnes of tomatoes. We have learnt from credible sources that the Army was planning a soup. No such thing had been notified. Any suspicion was still considered much too implausible, but lookouts were alerted as a routine step. The Centre issued a terror alert with instructions to police to carefully check all vehicles on the highways leading to Delhi. Agriculture secretary Mr Prabeer Kumar Basu was asked to cut short his visit to Malaysia. He returned. He asked Lt-Gen AK Choudhary, director-general military operations, to see him and explain what was going on.
The Army’s justification for the specific movements did sound plausible though. The mechanised units, they said, were checking out their ability to move and prepare soup rapidly in fog, should such a contingency arrive. General VK.Singh asserted that there was nothing unusual about this exercise. “It is common for the Army to move tomatoes to Delhi and prepare soup, especially in winter,” he said. The Prime Minister dismissed the soup story as alarmist.
However some unanswered questions still remain: 1. Why was the ministry of defence not notified about the menu? 2. Why were the trucks suddenly called back before the soup could be prepared? 3. When was the last time tomatoes had been moved by the Army towards the Capital on this scale?
Jest Kidding does not believe in sensationalism. These are the bare facts of an unusual set of events. These facts may indeed be officially denied for now. But these will be debated for a long time, forcing the UPA to introspect on its mismanagement of the delicate civil-military culinary relationship.
Essentially, late on the night of 16 January, 2012 (the day Army chief General VK Singh approached the Supreme Court on his date of birth issue), Central Intelligence agencies reported an unexpected (and non-notified) movement of 48 Army trucks belonging to the mechanised infantry based in Hisar (Haryana) in the direction of the capital, 150 km away.
The trucks were filled with several tonnes of tomatoes. We have learnt from credible sources that the Army was planning a soup. No such thing had been notified. Any suspicion was still considered much too implausible, but lookouts were alerted as a routine step. The Centre issued a terror alert with instructions to police to carefully check all vehicles on the highways leading to Delhi. Agriculture secretary Mr Prabeer Kumar Basu was asked to cut short his visit to Malaysia. He returned. He asked Lt-Gen AK Choudhary, director-general military operations, to see him and explain what was going on.
The Army’s justification for the specific movements did sound plausible though. The mechanised units, they said, were checking out their ability to move and prepare soup rapidly in fog, should such a contingency arrive. General VK.Singh asserted that there was nothing unusual about this exercise. “It is common for the Army to move tomatoes to Delhi and prepare soup, especially in winter,” he said. The Prime Minister dismissed the soup story as alarmist.
However some unanswered questions still remain: 1. Why was the ministry of defence not notified about the menu? 2. Why were the trucks suddenly called back before the soup could be prepared? 3. When was the last time tomatoes had been moved by the Army towards the Capital on this scale?
Jest Kidding does not believe in sensationalism. These are the bare facts of an unusual set of events. These facts may indeed be officially denied for now. But these will be debated for a long time, forcing the UPA to introspect on its mismanagement of the delicate civil-military culinary relationship.
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