Age row: Govt's handling of Army chief issue insensitive, says BJP

NEW DELHI: Former finance minister and BJP leader Jaswant Singh assailed the government for "blunting the sword arm of the country" and dealing with Army chief General V K Singh's date of birth controversy in a "shabby and insensitive" manner.

Singh said he was amazed at the "sheer incompetence, mishandling and folly on part of the government" and asked why defence minister A K Antony sat on the issue for months on end. "If it was a sensitive matter, then the minister should have tried to sort it out with the chief," he said.

Hitting out the government for its "obduracy and adopting a mindless approach" in allowing the controversy to fester, Singh said he supported Gen Singh's decision to remain in office while approaching the courts for a correction of his date of birth.

"Isn't that what the bureaucracy wants," he said when asked whether the chief should have quit before going to court. The BJP leader pointed out that the issue seems to have been pre-judged as Parliament was informed that the government would not consider a change of date even when the general's statutory plea was still under consideration.

"I am amazed at defence minister A K Antony's incompetence in dealing with a matter where the chief does not want an extension in service but is asking for the record to be set right," Singh told a TV channel.

"Could the defence minister or the PM not have asked the Army chief... walked to his office and sort out this elementary matter of sorting government records," he said.

Maintaining the government's approach as "extremely distasteful", he said the Army could not be treated in this fashion as there was a disconnect between the civilian government and the military. Singh said the government could not treat the general's plea as "mutinous behaviour".