antimony

The Statesman

In my view, this is the typical small-minded thinking that characterises the post-Vajpayee BJP. They want the army to get involved in what are essentially the bedrock of a civilian society, a job that the army could not and more importantly should not participate in.

They are welcome to drag CRPF/ RAF and whatever Central paramilitary force that they need, but they need to keep the military out of this. But that would be probably too complicated to get inside their little populist brains

bolo121

Yes indeed leave the army alone, they have enough problems. This is something that the CRPF should be dealing with.
But what with the reds having the govt by the nuts, nothing effective is going to be done.
A shameful blot on indian democracy.

Blademaster

Because the CRPF is an ineffective and toothless tool I believe that we need some sort of force capable of making independent wise judgments. Unfortunately, the only force left is the army. I am somewhat dubious of having an army safeguarding an election. It is like a fox safeguarding a chicken coop but it is certainly better than having the commies "protecting" the election.

So I would go for it.

antimony

The problem with CRPF is that the forces are being kept in the barracks and not being allowed to operate effectively. Wherever they have been able to work, the reds have raised heckles about "excesses".

Even the army, if it is deployed, would be under the command of the MOD. The MOD reports to the GOI, and the GOI (unfortunately) seems to report to the reds. Hence the situation would not be too different. The BJP knows that the Central Government will never deploy the army and hence they can continue to decry that its all the Centers fault because they are not taking good "advice". However, in doing so, they are unnecesarily putting the Army in an uncomfortable position

Sumku

No one is putting Army in an Uncomfortable Position.
Uncomfortable Position is when the Army is already deployed and is asked not to do what it is supposed to do.

Just giving a suggestion is not putting anyone in an uncomfortable position.

To me, Army should be kept out of this election thing, but if it is called, then surely it wont be first time that it is assisting Civilian authorities in conducting a free and fair elections.

Instead of asking Army to chip for elections, BJP should rather be asking the EC[Election Commission] to do it effectively, as EC is the only body that has constitutional mandate to effect a free and fair elections, and let the EC decide if it needs Army to help the Civilian authorities or the CRPF.

Besides, going by the reputation of EC[which is formidable/enviable], whatever be the results of elections people would accept it quite openly.

Elections conducted under Army's supervision would not have that kind of acceptability when compared to elections conducted under EC's Supervision[Not that Army does not enjoy such a formidable and favourable reputation as EC, but skeptics could still say Army did not do its job because it was being controlled by MOD].

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Sumit Kumar

Sumku

I am sorry but would have to differ from you here. On the contrary there should not be a single force, that makes Independent Wise Judgements.
There is always a risk that in context of taking Independent Wise Judgements people manning top positions in that force might become anxious and become a law onto itself.

Pakistan's ISI is one such example, US's CIA had become one such force and was bought under control with great difficulty.

This is no Pakistan or Afghanistan, and all Forces[of whatever forms] must submit to peoples mandate[however that stupid that might be]. It is upto us[masses] to decide and ensure that only worthwhile people are elected to man important positions.

Ray

I am tired of the Army in India being taken as the sole engine for Indian problems.

It is time India stand on its own without Army fire fighting for them!

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"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Deltacamelately

I strongly object the involvement of the army in matters which are institutional relics of a democratic civilian system. We teach our boys to fight wars with the enemy. These kind of operations degenerates a soldiers moral and eventually implants vices of the political walk. Must stay away. The CRPF is more than capable from the operational perspective to handle elections, they are not that toothless, what they need is freedom to act independently without the political mongrels jumping on their back.

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I am the DARK that Rise to Kill..And Soar to Redeem!

bolo121

The govt should just say, to hell with it what with price rise and record inflation we wont be reelected anyway. Lets go out on a high and to hell with the reds, be it the nuke deal or Nandigram

kuku

We have to make sure that the local police and judicial system is able to take care of such situations all over India.
Otherwise, even if you call the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and the Coast Guards, nothing important will happen.

Any Ideas how that can happen?

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cheers

antimony

Was there not a Model Police Act in the offing that would remove the police from the clutches of the politicos? whatever hapened to that? On a related note, check out this piece of news from the Calcutta Telegraph:

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Bengal | SP washes hands of Nandi

How can a duty bound Police Officer even give a statement like this? Removing illegal arms is not a responsibility for the police? Such a comment in the private sector would have invited swift dismissal, but I guess Article 311 allows mediocrity like this.

Ray

The Police in West Bengal are the Commie cadres themselves!!

Hence, even if they can remove the firearms, they will not.

Another reason is that they and their families live there and hence can be targeted!

The Central Forces are from outside and so they can operate more freely and independently.

Deltacamelately

Thats exactly the point. Since the WB police isn't ready to take the onus, its imperative that the central paramilitary forces should be tasked to takeout the arms and restore tranquility.

antimony

Any state based institution, be it uniformed or civilian can be targeted.

That is assuming they can venture out of their barracks, which they were not allowed to when they were deployed in Nandigram.

Sumku

Are we going through a Civil War?, if not yet then with whats happenning in WB and Kerala, we are sure heading that way, all the more reason why these bloody commies need to be wiped out once and for all