The Congress after coming to power has truly fulfilled its election slogan: congress puraane din laayenge (the Congress will bring back the old days). But none could perhaps have anticipated the speed and the regularity with which it is hurtling the nation towards the path of destruction of the vilest kind.

Again, I need to reproduce the Pioneer article in its entirety courtesy its disappearing act.

Army chief joins issue on Muslim headcount

Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi/Vishakhapatnam

‘Force gives equal chance to everyone aspiring to serve’ —- The UPA Government’s move to conduct a survey on the number of Muslims serving in the armed forces appears to have not gone down well with the men in uniform.

Refraining from questioning the survey, Army chief General JJ Singh said on Monday that the recruitment is based on merit and ability to perform different duties and that the Army is apolitical, secular and professional.

He said the Army gives equal chance to everyone aspiring to serve in the organisation and “the entry system is based on merit and capability to perform different duties. We never have this kind of a thing like where you come from, what language you speak or what religion you believe in. That’s always been our policy, Gen Singh said in Vishakhapatnam and added “the Army is apolitical, secular and professional.”

Army chief’s statement came in the backdrop of reports that the armed forces were reluctant to come forward with details of the number of Muslim officers and men and reportedly conveyed apprehensions to the Government that such a survey would send wrong signals.

The services also said the armed forces were truly secular, apolitical and professional. Moreover, the Government had stopped raising new units on the basis of caste and region in the 1950s and all the new formations were mixed in nature, thereby giving representation to young men from all over the country.

The PMO reportedly overruled the objection, saying the survey formed part of the Government’s efforts to promote minority welfare by studying the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India.

The Army chief’s view got support from Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and former vice chief of Army staff Lt General SK Sinha (retired), who said the Indian Army was the only apolitical Army in the third world and emphasised the point that men in uniform never gave a thought to religion.

Refusing to specifically comment on the survey being conducted by a seven-member committee appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar, Lt General Sinha said, “It is the ethos of the Army. We never give a thought to religion when we deal with our colleagues.”

Meanwhile, seeking to stem a raging controversy, a high-level Government committee said the information it has sought about the Muslims in the country involved all walks of life and not only in the armed forces.

The committee also made it clear that it had not asked any question from the armed forces on the operation in Hyderabad in 1948 and the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan as reported in a section of the media.

“In particular, the committee denies to having asked any question regarding Operation Polo of 1948 (in Hyderabad) and the Operation Vijay (1999 Kargil war), the HLC’s Officer on Special Duty S Zafar Mahmood said in a statement here.

“The committee also denies the media report specifically mentioning information regarding the level and number of Muslims in the Army. In fact, the committee is deeply upset to see these references attributed to it in the media,” the statement said.

Emphasising that it was fully aware and valued the intrinsic importance of the armed forces, the committee said there was no way that it would ever ask any question that might in any manner be even “remotely prejudicial to the interests of the nation which must always remain supreme”.

My incurable cynicism prevented me from commenting on this issue when I first heard about it. Now the Army has spoken and it is a welcome sign. Barely two years, and the UPA has accelerated the “back to good old days” with zest. It is doing everything in its power to stick to its vote-getting tactics which sadly doesn’t work now: branding others communal.

I agree with the widespread belief that the suicidal noose which it has prepared is fast tightening around its own neck. But the alarming fact is: it’ll take the nation down with it.