Ex-Servicemen Cell Report

Reinduction of George Fernandes Condemned

Capt. Praveen Davar, Mr. Jaipal Reddy, Lt. Gen. A.A. Lakhera and Capt. Uttam Reddy at the APCC Ex-Servicemen Cell Convention in Hyderabad on November,19.

Continuing its series of ex-servicemen conventions, the AICC Ex-Servicemen Cell organized a number of State, mandal and District level conventions during November. The month began with district level meetings in both the Garhwal and Kumaon mandals of Uttaranchal. Meetings were held in Dehradun, Dev Prayag, Uttar Kashi, Chamba besides a number of other places in interior areas from 3 to 7 November. The Chairman of the AICC Ex-Servicemen, Lt. Gen. M.M. Lakhera (retd.), who addressed these meetings along with Shri Harish Rawat, president Uttaranchal PCC, condemned the Uttaranchal government for not paying attention to the problems of ex-servicemen by denying release of funds meant for their welfare. According to the Gen. Lakhera the state has not even cared to form a Directorate for ex-servicemen welfare.

The KPCC Ex-Servicemen Cell held a State Convention in Bangalore on November 18. Capt. Praveen Davar, Capt. Nair are seen in the picture.

Capt. Praveen Davar, secretary, AICC Ex-Servicemen Cell, visited Gurdaspur on 7 November and Una (Himachal Pradesh) on 8 November for attending the district level and state level conventions respectively. The meeting in Gurdaspur was inaugurated by the former Punjab Minister, Shri Lakhmir Singh Randhawa. Capt. Davar lashed out at Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee for yielding to blackmail by Tehelka-tainted George Fernandes by including him in the Cabinet before the conclusion of Venkatswami Commission.

The Himachal Pradesh State Convention was inaugurated by the HPCC president, Smt. Vidya Stokes, who had extended her wholehearted cooperation in making the function a great success. Besides Smt. Vidya Stokes and Capt. Davar, the delegates were addressed by the chief guest, Maj. Ved Prakash, secretary, AICC and Brig. Yudhvir Singh, Chairman HPCC Ex-Servicemen Cell, the chief organizer of the function which was also attended by Maj. Gen. Bikram Singh, ex-MP.

The highlights of the month, however, were three state conventions in Chennai (18 Nov), Thiruvananthapuram (19 Nov) and Hyderabad (25 Nov). The meeting in Chennai was inaugurated by the TNCC president, Shri EVRS Elangovan, in Thiruvananthapuram by Shri K.K. Karunakaran, CWC member, and in Hyderabad by Shri Jaipal Reddy, AICC official spokesman. While Shri Karunakaran gave details of various ex-servicemen welfare schemes undertaken by the Congress regimes, Shri Jaipal Reddy strongly condemned the re-induction of Shri George Fernandes in the Cabinet a ‘few hours after the Venkatswami Commission ruled that the Tehelka tapes were genuine.’ The APCC president, Shri Satyanarayan Rao, and the former APCC president, Shri Rossaih, also expressed their views and praised the ex-servicemen for discipline, integrity and patriotism.

Since the Tamilnadu and Kerala state conventions were organized, respectively, on the eve and occasion of the 84th birth anniversary of Smt. Indira Gandhi, rich tributes were paid to her by all the speakers in Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. In Chennai, Capt. Davar also recalled the contribution of K.Kamaraj in building the Congress.

Chairmen of Ex-Servicemen Cells of Tamilnadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, Shri Newton Ganaraj, Capt. PKR Nair and Capt. Uttam Reddy were complimented respectively by their PCC presidents for organizing the extremely well-attended functions in their respective states.

A number of "dharnas" in all the State capitals and a number of districts were organized against the re-induction of Shri George Fernandes in the Council of Ministers. While reports of the successful "dharnas" have been received from Delhi, Lucknow, Jodhpur, Unnao and Chennai information from other places is coming in. Slogans like "George Hatao, Sena Bachao" and "Sena Khoon Bahati Hai Sarkar Dalali Khati Hai" were loudly raised in the demonstrations.

– Capt. Praveen Davar