Veterans seek apology from Rahul for ‘undermining armed forces’

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made some controversial remarks about the role of armed forces in securing India’s farthest frontiers, a group of veterans on Monday said they were “shocked and deeply hurt” and sought an apology from Gandhi.

“If you use India’s labourers, India’s farmers, India’s workers, you will not need the army, navy and air force to be standing over there. China will not have the guts to come inside,” Gandhi had said in Tamil Nadu’s Erodi.

In a statement issued on Monday, the veterans said the armed forces can be “casually undermined by irresponsible leaders” only at a grave to national security. The statement was signed by 20 veterans, including several three-star retired officers.

“The statement about the redundancy of Indian Armed Forces would have been ignored... but seeing the misleading affect it could have on the future generations of our country, we have decided to put things in correct perspective,” the veterans said.