Union minister Nitin Gadkari has applauded Major Letul Gogoi and said that he should be “awarded the Padma Bhushan“.
Speaking to ABP News, Gadkari said, “Major Gogoi used his presence of mind to save several soldiers. It is a strategy. I feel he should be awarded the Padma Bhushan,” said the Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping.
He also added that while he did not agree with party MP Paresh Rawal’s tweet on Arundhati Roy (Tie Arundhati Roy to Army Jeep), he said there were people who speak against armed forces.
He said the Modi government was doing a lot of work in the North Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir. “This amount of work never happened in the last 50 years,” the minister said.
Major Leetul Gogoi, who had tied a man to a jeep in Kashmir purportedly as a shield against stone-pelters, has been honoured with the Army chief’s ‘Commendation Card’ for his ‘sustained efforts’ in counter-insurgency operations.
The award for Major Gogoi is seen as a backing of the action of the officer belonging to the 53 Rashtriya Rifles even as the Army maintained that a court of inquiry into the incident is ‘under finalisation’.
A video, showing a man tied to an Army vehicle during polling in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election on April 9, had triggered a public outcry, prompting the Army to institute a probe.
The sources said Major Gogoi was given the award during Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir last week.
