NEW DELHI: Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat slammed and snubbed athome.
Indian Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Thursday slammed the people callingfor protests in the country against the new citizenship law, sayingleadership was not about guiding crowds including students “to carry outarson and violence”.
His remarks drew sharp criticism from some retired and serving militaryofficers, who accused him of needlessly wading into the raging politicalcontroversy over the controversial law.
“Leaders are not those who lead people in inappropriate directions, as weare witnessing in a large number of university and college students […]This is not leadership,” said Gen Rawat, speaking at a healthcareleadership summit here.
“A leader is a person who leads you in the correct direction, gives you theright advice and then ensures that he cares for the people he leads.
So, leadership is by personal example and that is what we in the armedforces are proud of,” added Gen Rawat, who is tipped to take over as thecountry’s first-ever chief of defence staff after completing his three-yeartenure as the army chief on Dec 31.
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Serving and retired officers, who stressed that the armed forces arejustifiably proud of their apolitical and secular ethos, maintained thearmy chief had “crossed the line yet again” by taking a public standagainst the ongoing anti-CAA protests.
Former Navy Chief retired Admiral L. Ramdas said Gen Rawat’s remarks wereclearly “wrong”, stressing that armed forces personnel must follow thedecades-old principle of “serving the country and not any political force”.
The armed forces have “an internal code prescribing that they must beneutral and not partisan”, he said, adding that these rules have been thebedrock of the services for decades.
