General:- Loose-Talking General

The Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor said yesterday that the Defense Ministry’s ban on dealing with Singapore Technologies (ST) will delay the Indian Plans to acquire light howitzers for the artillery.

General Kapoor should not have aired his views in Public. If he was concerned about the delay, then he should have voiced his concerns directly with the Defense Minister or the Defense Secretary. It was highly irresponsible on the Part of the General to disclose such sensitive statements in Public.

This raises some interesting questions? Given the situation that only ST has offered the “Pegasus” gun to the Indian Army for its requirement of Ultra-light howitzers and the other contender BAE Systems has backed out. It seems that the cartel is pushing India to buy only from ST. Why India has to face such a situation? The Army and the Defense Ministry should be keen in buying what is best and required for India and without allowing any Vendor "buy-out” any deals. With the Generals Loose Talk, one wonders whether the General is pushing the cartel? Can’t India manufacture these indigenously?

So according to him, should the government remove the Ban on the Suspicious Firms and start buying from them? What nonsense is this. A loose talk from the General is totally unwarranted, unacceptable and unpardonable. To gain limelight in the media the General has given something to the media to chew.

If the Government had purchased from ST, the same media would have publicized everywhere that the Government has purchased despite a suspicion raised by CBI on STs previous dealings. Even if the General talks of a delay then, they would not buy his story.

Media only likes to frame and paint people bad. Their TRP/readership goes up on such coverage. We have already seen the irresponsible role played by Media during the 26/11 terrorist attack.

General Kapoor should clarify and issue a corrective statement and learn from this that to air his views there are other appropriate forums and platform. By delivering such Loose talks, one might be forced to think that General Kapoor is either putting the pressure because of those Firms or is trying to protect someone.