Explain why Bipin Rawat chosen army chief, says Congress; BJP hits back

New Delhi: Congress and the Left on Sunday questioned the appointment of the new army chief by superseding two officers, saying every appointment by the government has become controversial.

The development came a day after the government appointed Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Bipin Rawat as the new army chief superseding his two senior officers.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said that every institution has its own dynamics, hierarchy and seniority which is the overriding dynamic of the armed forces not only in India but everywhere in the world.

"With all due respect to Gen Rawat's professionalism and no personal animus towards anybody, there is a legitimate question that why has that supersession taken place," he said.

Arguing that Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi and Southern Army Command chief Lt Gen P M Hariz are senior to Lt Gen Rawat, Tewari questioned why this supersession has taken place.

He said now the argument the government will give that Congress did supersession in the 80s and, therefore it has the right to do so is a "complete nonsense".

"Every situation has its own context and, therefore nothing can be extrapolated out of context in order to justify a supersession. So, therefore the government needs to answer this legitimate question as to why these senior army commanders were superseded," he said.

"Did the government have anything against them? Was their professionalism in question? What was the reason and I guess the army being a public institution the country deserves those answers," Tewari said.

CPI leader D Raja also questioned the government's move and said appointments have become controversial.

"Appointments in the army have become controversial, the appointments in the judiciary are already controversial, the appointments of CVCs, CBI director and to Central Information Commission, all these top-level appointments are becoming very controversial," he said.

Terming this as "very unfortunate", Raja said it is not in the interest of democracy and the country.

He said there should be transparency and transparency should go along with integrity and nobody should raise questions. "But now questions are being raised," he added.

But the BJP hit back at the Congress for ‘politicising’ Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat's appointment, drawing the opposition's attention to a decision taken during the regime of late prime minister Indira Gandhi when the then government superseded Lieutenant General S.K. Sinha to appoint General A.S. Vaidya as the Army Chief in 1983.

BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said it is extremely unfortunate that the Congress looks to politicise each and everything.

"The Congress spokesperson (Manish Tewari) should resist about it because the chief of the Army has been appointed and this is not the first time that the supersession have been done," said Singh adding that similar cases have occurred in the Air Force and Navy as well.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi lambasted the Congress, saying the government followed standards norms and does not require the permission of 10, Janpath for the same.

Taking the Congress to task for time and again questioning the government's decision, Naqvi said the grand old party is till date not able to digest the fact that they have lost power.

"I think till now the Congress is not able to understand that they have lost power at the Centre. The government is following standards norms over the appointment of Army Chief and does not require the permission of 10, Janpath (Congress president Sonia Gandhi's official residence)," said Naqvi, adding the government won't allow the Congress to dictate terms as it did during its tenure at the Centre.