The Congress on Wednesday apparently distanced itself from the critical remarks of party leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Manish Tewari on the appointment of General Bipin Rawat as the Chief of Defence Staff, saying it does not oppose any step taken by the government to strengthen the security of the country.
Party spokesperson Sushmita Dev said actions speak louder than words and soon the country will know how the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will work.
Commenting on it before that will not be right, she told reporters in New Delhi.
Dev also refused to comment on Chowdhury and Tewari's critical remarks on the appointment of CDS.
'But I would like to say that the decision of appointing Chief of (Defence) Staff is of the government. We only expect that he (General Rawat) will fulfill his responsibilities as the chief of staff. Any step taken by the government to strengthen the security of the country, the Congress does not oppose that,' Dev said.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, in a series of tweets on Tuesday, had raised several questions over the appointment of Gen. Bipin Rawat as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), saying the government has started on a 'wrong foot' on the issue.
He had also asked whether the country was headed on a portentous path.
'With great regret and fullest of responsibility may I say that the government has started on a very wrong foot with regard to CDS. Time alone unfortunately will reveal the implications of this decision,' Tewari had said on Twitter.
With great regret and fullest of responsibility may I say that the Govt has started on a very wrong foot with regard to CDS. Time alone unfortunately will reveal the implications of this decision.
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) December 30, 2019
He had also asked why the appointment of a CDS is fraught with difficulties and ambiguities.
Chowdhury had also taken to Twitter to say, 'At the end, Mr Rawat become the 1st Chief Of Defence Staff, government certainly taken all his performances into cognizance including his ideological predilection, Indian Army is an apolitical institution for which each & every Indian irrespective of caste, class, creed, community is proud of.'
'Let Mr Bipin Rawat Ji's ideological predilection should not affect the apolitical institution of India, our 'ARMY',' the Congress' leader in Lok Sabha had tweeted.
1/1-Chief of Defense Staff should have been appointed through legislation & not executive action. 1986 GOLDWATER-NICHOLS DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1986- created Chairperson/VC of JCSC& defined powers.Section 201 deals with De-Facto CDS. https://t.co/GsQwrE4i0j
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) January 1, 2020
1/3 This is how mature democracies ought to function. You have a CBI whose legality hangs by the thread of a stay in SC. An IB, R&AW, NTRO, BOI that has no legal architecture to back their functioning.That is why I had moved a Private Members Bill on Intellegence Services in 2011
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) January 1, 2020