Kashmir: All that the India Army did with good intention ended up in controversy and shame for the alleged conceding to a controversial news anger. The official handle of PRO Defence Jammu had tweeted pictures of army officials and residents at Doda district in Kashmir breaking the Ramzan fast together.
In the Army shared pictures, the locals and the army officials can be seen interacting with each other during the fast breaking with a caption "keeping alive the traditions of secularism, an Iftar was organised by the Indian Army at Arnora in Doda district."
But, even before the Army had all the praises for its good gesture towards secularism, all turned down by a tweet from Suresh Chavhanke — editor-in-chief of the Hindi news channel Sudarshan News — calling out the Army for holding a such function.
The Defence PRO is said to have deleted the pictures of breaking fast with locals falling to Chavhanke controversial tweet "Now this disease has spread to even the Army? Sad (sic)."
It might be the images of civilians and Army officials breaking Ramzan fast together, an official offering namaaz with Muslim residents and an Army General interacting with other civilians that created repulsion in Chavhanke.
But the Army should not be fell to a person like Chavhanke, who is notorious for incendiary comments and has cases against him for hate speeches, is what people who reacted to the Army's response to Chavhanke's felt.
The Army officially did not respond to the reason for deleting the tweet, but the PTI quoted an officer, who declined to be named, saying that "Iftar parties are a regular feature during the fasting month of Ramzan to build a strong bond with the public."
The officer added that he felt sad for the denigrating comments from certain section of society, killing the basic message of upholding communal harmony.
The removal of the tweet from the Army handle did not go down well with veteran soldiers. "Indian Army has been at the forefront of interfaith harmony. We as officers take pride in the fact that we have NO religion, we just adopt the religion of the troops we command (sic)," Maj Gen (retd) Yash Mor tweeted.
Several social media users also pointed out that Chavhanke "bullied" the Army into deleting the tweet. "We kept saying the likes of Suresh Chavhanke don't matter. But now they have the power to bully the Indian army into deleting a tweet on Iftar," journalist Stuti N Mishra said.
Mohit Bhan, the spokesperson of the J&K People's Democratic Party, said, "World's second largest Army surrendered to a scumbag named Suresh Chavhanke. India needs its institutions to stand-up not succumb to hate campaigns."