Kolkata: West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi on Saturday said that one should be careful while making any allegation against the Indian Army.
Tripathi's statement comes in the wake of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that soldiers extorted money from truck drivers during their deployment at toll plazas.
When asked about Banerjee`s accusation that the soldiers extorted money from truck drivers, Tripathi said here: "Every person should take care in making allegation against a responsible organisation like the Indian Army. Don`t let down the Army. Don`t defame the Army.”Banerjee`s accusation that the soldiers extorted money from truck drivers, Tripathi said here: "Every person should take care in making allegation against a responsible organisation like the Indian Army. Don`t let down the Army. Don`t defame the Army.”
Chief Minister Banerjee spent Thursday night at the state secretariat and stayed put there on Friday protesting deployment of the Army at toll plazas in West Bengal allegedly without informing her government -- an issue that snowballed into a major row causing disruptions in Parliament.
The central government and the Army rubbished the allegations, saying too much was being read into a routine exercise.
In the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the Army was conducting a routine exercise in Kolkata. The Eastern Command showed papers detailing the correspondence between the Army and the local police on the issue and said the state government and the police knew about it in advance.
