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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, Jan 6: Sacked Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, would be fully justified in making a formal representation to President K R Narayanan to clear his name regarding the charges made by the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, former Cabinet Secretary, B G Deshmukh, said here today.
In a statement, Deshmukh noted that defence minister had “literally opened a Pandora’s Box” by saying that Admiral Bhagwat’s honesty and integrity were doubted, that he had persistently disobeyed the civilian authority and some of his actions had grave security implications.
“Admiral Bhagwat has decided not to go to court, but he would be fully justified now in making a formal representation to the President,” the veteran bureaucrat reiterated.
However, he noted that the final order for the removal of Admiral Bhagwat must have been personally signed by the President after he was fully satisfied that there was no other way as otherwise he could have returned the case to the government forreconsideration.
Deshmukh recalled that when Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister retained defence portfolio and could not look after the daily working of the defence ministry, the service chiefs came to overshadow the bureaucracy. He also recalled two instances of then army chief Gen K Sundarji’s indiscreet remarks about Rajiv Gandhi and how as Cabinet Secretary, he had suggested that if the chief did not want to obey PM’s orders, he should “put in his papers”.
