A defence ministry spokesperson has summarily been sent on leave after criticising the misuse of privileges by military officers, although the former navy chief, in her tweet, had urged the government to reflect on her charges rather than “getting excited”.

Swaranashree Rao Rajshekhar was shunted out on Friday night after her morning tweet, highlighting the ill-treatment of army orderlies at officers’ homes and the abuse of military vehicles, triggered a furore among veterans.

Admiral Arun Prakash, a war hero and gallantry award-winning former navy chief to whom Rajshekhar was responding, did not join in the condemnation.

“Rather than getting excited over indiscreet tweet of @SpokespersonMoD I would suggest sober reflection; (a) by MoD (ministry of defence) on state of civil-mil(itary) relations & (b) by military leadership on the aspersions cast by MoD (IDAS?) civil-servant on personal conduct of service officers,” he posted.

The “IDAS” appears a reference to the Indian Defence Accounts Service, to which Rajshekhar belongs.

But a tweet from the defence ministry said: “Col Aman Anand took over as the acting official spokesperson of MOD (ministry of defence) as the spokesperson proceeds on leave.”

This is the second time in two days that the government has sent an official on forced leave, after benching CBI director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana on Wednesday amid a public turf war between them.

It all started when a tweeter, Ravinder Bhandari, objected to the internal financial adviser to the Western Command in Chandigarh, a civilian, sporting a flag with the command insignia on his car and posted a photo. Military rules do not allow such flags on a civilian’s vehicle.

Admiral Prakash, 72, who helmed the navy from July 2004 to October 2006, responded to the tweet, posting: “Even if (the) misuse of an army command’s insignia by a civilian is not a cognisable offence, the person needs to be reprimanded by the GOC-in-C whose ‘financial adviser’ he is.”

Rajshekhar replied to the retired admiral from her official Twitter handle, saying: “What about misuse of jawans in your residence during an officer’s tenure sir?”

The reference was to the army’s “sahayak” system — a colonial hangover under which ordinary soldiers are assigned to work as orderlies at senior officers’ quarters, and are often ill-treated and forced to do chores they find degrading.

Rajshekhar added: “And how about children being picked up and dropped to school in Fauji gaadis (military vehicles)? Not to forget Madam’s (military wives’) shopping expedition on government vehicles. And endless parties… who pays for that?”

After her tweet provoked outrage among social media users, particularly military veterans, Rajshekhar deleted it and apologised, saying: “The tweet was inadvertently done and same is deeply regretted please.”

One of those to condemn her original tweet was the retired Air Vice Marshal, Manmohan Bahadur, who posted: “This is indeed shameful; for @spokespersonMoD to tweet this to a former service chief.”

A retired officer, Major General Harsha Kakar, refused to be placated by Rajshekhar’s apology. “Is this inadvertent? It shows the true colours of your MoD Madam. You are meant to protect the military, not insult it,” he tweeted.

“Keeping this spokesperson is an insult to India, its armed forces and their sacrifices. It shows no respect for senior veterans. Your spokesperson is a disaster.”

BJP parliamentarian Rajeev Chandrasekhar too slammed Rajshekhar’s comments and demanded an inquiry in a tweet directed at junior defence minister Subhash Bhamre.

“Dear @DefenceMinIndia @DrSubhashMoS — who is this ‘defence spokesperson’ who reprsnts MoD i.e. govt n talks like this? This is unacceptable conduct n I wud rqst an enquiry into this. This is unconscionable, disrespectful n arrogance….” he said.

An official from army headquarters said the spokesperson’s “nasty” comment had brought out in the open the rift between the armed forces and the bureaucracy over the privileges of service.

“It reflects the deep-seated anti-military sentiments of the civilian in the defence ministry,” he said.