General (retired) VK Singh has sparked a controversy by raising doubts about the suicide of former soldier Ram Kishan Grewal over the One Rank One Pension issue and claimed that the veteran had been a Congress politician.
This is what the former Army chief, who is Minister of State for External Affairs, said:
The minister’s attempt to play down the suicide, as political leaders like Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal attended the funeral of the former soldier, wasn’t entirely surprising.
Under attack for Delhi Police detaining leaders like Gandhi and Kejriwal after they visited the former soldier’s family on Wednesday, other BJP leaders like Haryana minister Anil Vij and chief minister ML Khattar also said that it was incorrect to label Grewal a martyr.
Given the political controversy the incident is mired in, opposition leaders attacked Singh and Khattar for their statements, claiming that they were insensitive:
The former general may just have given the opposition politicians the ammunition they were looking for. On the other hand, he may also be hoping to diffuse any other action from ex-servicemen over the implementation of OROP and give supporters something to defend themselves with.