Modi must ask VK Singh to pipe down, but also fix army-govt ties

Gen VK Singh is not doing himself or the professional army he served till mid-2012 any credit by making wild allegations about the next army chief, Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag. Incensed by a government affidavit in court that rubbished the disciplinary action he had initiated as army chief against Suhag as “illegal” and “without any basis or material on record”, Gen Singh shot back on twitter. He alleged that Suhag’s unit may have “killed innocents”. He tweeted: “If unit kills innocents, does dacoity and then head of organization tries to protect them, should he not be blamed? Criminals should go free!!” It is possible that the defence ministry affidavit that trashed Gen Singh’s actions may have been initiated at a lower level, and Arun Jaitley, who is holding additional charge as defence minister, may not have known about it.