New Delhi, December 18 (AGENCIES): The Congress on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain the circumstances behind the appointment of Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat as the new Army Chief superseding seniors. "We would like to ask the Prime Minister what was the compelling reason why this supersession has taken place. Why the principle of seniority, which has held now for almost two decades, was not respected," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told a press conference here. "Is it that these officers who have been superseded were unqualified in any manner or is it whimsical cherry-picking which has been done by the BJP-led government? "Not only is this supersession unprecedented, probably this has happened for the first time that three senior Generals (Commanding different armies) have been superseded," Tewari added. The government on Saturday appointed Lt. Gen. Rawat as the new Army Chief and Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa as the new chief of the Indian Air Force. The appointment of Lt. Gen. Rawat has ignored the seniority of Eastern Army Commander Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi and Southern Army Commander Lt. Gen. P.M. Hariz who have spent longer years in service. "It is not the first time this government has done this. The appointment or the non-appointment of a full-time Enforcement Director, the ad-hoc appointment in the CBI, which has been questioned by the Supreme Court, is an extremely serious matter which shows this government has scant regard for institutional integrity. "Why is there a delay in the notification for the next Chief Justice of India?" Chief Justice T.S. Thakur is retiring on January 3. The government is yet to announce the next Chief Justice. Speaking to ANI here after taking to Twitter to voice his annoyance with the decision, Congress leader Manish Tewari assured that this was not a personal attack on the new Chief of Staff but a legitimate question. “With all due respect to General Rawat’s professionalism and brilliance as a soldier and no personal animosity to anybody, there is a legitimate question as to why has this supersession taken place. After all, Lt. Gen Praveen Bakshi who commands the Eastern Command, the Southern Army Commander Lt. Gen Mohammed Ali and the Central Army Commander are all senior to the gentleman who is being designated,” Tewari said. Reiterating his demand for an answer to the legitimate question as to why this supersession has taken place, the Congress leader added that the government’s defence saying the grand old party superseded in the 80s and therefore the ruling dispensation has the right to do so is complete “non sequitur”. “Every situation has its own context and therefore nothing can be extrapolated out of context in order to justify supersession. Why were these three senior army commanders superseded? Did the government have anything against them? Was their professionalism in question? What was the reason that the fourth incumbent was picked and I guess the Army being a public institution the country deserves those answers,” Tewari stated. Meanwhile, Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources have stated that Lt. General. Bipin Rawat, who has been appointed as the next Chief of Army Staff, was found the best suited among current batch of candidates of Lt. Generals, to deal with emerging challenges, including a reorganized and restructured military force in the north, continuing terrorism and proxy war from the west, and the situation in the North-East. Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Indian Army’s Eastern Command at Kolkata, and the senior most General to succeed Dalbir Singh, was superseded in the appointment. And Air Marshal Dhanoa was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF in June 1978. He has served in various squadrons, and in the Intelligence Directorate of Air Headquarters.
