It's sad Mamata Banerjee is making such charges: Manohar Parrikar

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Friday saw Trinamool Congress MPs alleging a "sinister conspiracy" behind the deployment of Army at Kolkata plaza and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar asserting it was "just a routine exercise," while alleging that it was "political frustration" that led to allegations against the Centre and the Army.
After the Trinamool MPs registered their protest and anger Parrikar said: "It is shocking that a chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) is saying this. The Army's deployment was part of a routine exercise which has been going on for the last 15-20 years. Even last year it was held on November 19 to 21. Concerned officials were informed in West Bengal. The original date (for the Army exercise) was fixed for November 28 to 30 but due to Bharat Bandh the local police advised the Army to shift it to December 1 and 2…Due to traffic congestion, the exercise is being done with the help of local police."

Maintaining similar operations to collect information on heavy vehicle movement that can be used during national emergencies had last month being conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, Parrikar added, "it was very unfortunate that the Army has been dragged into an unnecessary controversy... It was political frustration rather than projection of correct situation." The minister said the Army’s Eastern Command has been carrying out the exercise in West Bengal, Assam and states and northeast as well.

Raising the issue earlier, Sudip Bandyopadhyay alleged that the move "was a challenge to the federal structure of the country and completely politically motivated." He said Army personnel were deployed, including near the state secretariat, "without informing anyone in the state secretariat. It is a fantastic situation. Army today said that it was a routine exercise being carried out in northeastern states. But West Bengal does not come under the territorial jurisdiction of northeast.

Asserting people of the country have faith in the Army he said if such an exercise was indeed scheduled, the Centre should have communicated to the state government. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said Trinamool MPs should not "drag Army into politics" saying defence personnel have been protecting the country as well as democracy. "Whatever the Army has done was part of a routine exercise. It is completely wrong to drag the Army into politics," he said. Congress and some other Opposition MPs supported Trinamool in raising the matter. After the minister’s statement, the Opposition moved on to the demonetisation issues, forcing a series of adjournments of the House.