New Delhi: During his day-long trip to Ladakh on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited soldiers of Indian Army who are hospitalised in Leh following the border clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley last month.
But once pictures and a video of Modi’s engagements with convalescing soldiers surfaced on Internet, social media posts raised questions on the veracity of the visit.
The images showed injured soldiers sitting on beds in what appeared to be a conference room, rather than hospital. Netizens started speculating whether the event was a stage-managed one.
Former editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe and Mint Raju Narisetti made the point that the soldiers were all sitting upright on beds that looked unslept and patients had no visible bandages or injuries.
The Indian Army had to butt in and issue a clarification on Saturday.
“There have been malicious and unsubstantiated accusations in some quarters regarding the status of the facility visited by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during his visit to the General Hospital at Leh on July 3, 2020,” read the statement by Army posted by Ministry of Defence a day after the PM’s visit.
“The COVID-19 protocol had necessitated some wards of the General Hospital to be converted into isolation facilities. Hence, this hall which otherwise was normally used as a Training Audio Video Hall was converted into a ward ever since the hospital was also designated as COVID treatment hospital,” the Army stated.
“The injured braves have been kept there since their arrival from Galwan to ensure quarantine from COVID areas. The Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane and the Army Commander have also visited the injured braves in the same location,” the statement clarified.
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