Retd Major Gaurav Arya Warns Army Personnel Of 'Public Thrashing', Public Spat Between Veterans Shock Twitter

Twitteratis on Monday woke up to Retired Major Gaurav Arya from Arnab Goswami's Republic TV facing widespread criticism from senior officers of the Indian Army for defending the government on the military transgressions made by the Chinese army in the Ladakh's Galwan Valley.

The retired Major warned some veterans including (Retd) Lt Gen HS Panag, prominent strategic affairs analyst, (Retd) Brigadier Sandy Thapar who is known commentator on defence affairs and journalist Man Aman Singh Chhina of public thrashing.

Arya later became offensive in his language against the army veterans. His tweets, however, were deleted later.

The war of words broke out during a debate on Republic TV in which journalist and retired Colonel Ajai Shukla was criticised by Arnab Goswami and Gaurav Arya. Incidentally, Panag, Shukla and Chhina had been critical of the Modi government's handling of the standoff along the Line Of Actual Control (LAC).

The debate grew uglier when, in response to the criticism of Shukla and Panag on Republic TV, Thapar referred to Arya's short tenure in the Indian Army.

"@ajaishukla is the flavour of the day on @republic. 16 mins into the show, @ArnabGoswamiRTv has named him 49 times.& now it's turn of @rwac48 !@majorgauravarya says I've been tolerating these two for 2-3 yrs now but won't now! मसां मसां (जुम्मा जुम्मा) 5 साल नौकरी और यह तेवर?," Thapar tweeted

Responding to Thapar's tweet, General Panag wrote, ":) Two hoots!". Chhina agreed, "Well said sir. You need not respond to charlatans who know less about military tactics than a NCO (Non-Commissioned officers such as sepoys and Havildars)."

Panag even described his distinguished Army credentials.

This invoked an unruly response from Arya, who wrote: "Sandy Thapar, Gen Panag and Man Aman Singh Chinna... don't think that I cannot respond. Don't cry when you get a thrashing in public..."

The follow-up tweets by Arya triggered a massive spat with Thapar declaring that he had served "36 years in the Army" and that Shukla had served 20 years in the Army and Panag worked for 40 years, while Arya served only "5-6" years.

The war of words between Thapar and Arya attracted eyeballs on Twitter with veterans expressing disappointment with the words used against Panag and Thapar.

Some even pointed to the 'veterans code', noting that soldiers "and the rest of the country look up to the officers".

Thapar apologised for the spat with Arya in a tweet on Monday.

Arya's act of insulting his seniors, decorated war heroes, earned him massive condemnation from the public.

Also Read: Indian Army Amends Decades-Old Weapon Rules Along Line Of Actual Control After Violent Clash In Galwan Valley