I mean ppl are
Every Tom, Dick and Harry everywhere and in this forum knew it was shot down by IAF in friendly fire, what was so path-breaking in what Shukla told?
And as for politics is concerned why would Modi or the BJP take political responsibility for the sheer incompetence of IAF.
OTOH what would have happened if govt accepted that 10 soldiers are in custody, it would have increased public pressure and given China more leverage in negotiations. Shukla was just a Colonel, I am pretty sure all other retd. higher-ranking officials like Maj Gens, Lt Gens definitely knew more, there is a reason they keep shut. I remember Shyam Sharan, Shiv Shankar Menon saying something on the same line a few days back!
The time to pin blame is not now, you can do it whenever this thing gets over, you have ample time for that. Divulging information in an ongoing operation/ standoff is not being truthfulness, its irresponsible behaviour akin to the fifth column!
I am not blaming government for incompetence of IAF. What i am trying to say is Indian military have a habit of trying to hide their F-ups and shouldn't be taken as god Almighty's word. They tried to hide it in Kargil and that proved disastrous. They also tries to hide their f-up for months to avoid public pressure ( helicopter saga) and paint a pictures of imaginary victories.
What happening is Chinese border is one big f-up. It seems like army is trying to brush it under carpet. China has already built more than 500 structures between finger 4 & 8 according to satellite images. They attacked and cleaned up our patrol party. Chinese are in full strength and ready to fight and all options are on the table. However, from our side, build up is nowhere close and we are betting on talking to china nicely and they go back