Let soldiers be soldiers

Soldiers don't mind getting their hands dirty, or their faces soiled

Earlier this week, during a surprise visit to the Elphinstone Road railway station in Mumbai where over 20 people were killed in a stampede a month ago, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sprang another surprise. The Indian Army — no less — would build the foot overbridge here and at two other suburban train stations in Mumbai, she declared. The three bridges would be ready by January 2018, joined in Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. “We are thankful to the army for help,” gushed railway minister Piyush Goyal.

Forget the opposition, whose job it is to slam the government at every