Defence spokesperson sent on leave after tweet triggers row

SWARANASHREE RAO RAJASHEKAR DELETED THE TWEET BUT USERS HAD ALREADY TAKEN SCREENSHOTS AND WIDELY SHARED THEM

Defence ministry spokesperson Swarnashree Rao Rajashekar on Friday proceeded on leave for two weeks, hours after she took a jibe at former navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash, a 1971 war hero, on Twitter over military officers abusing their privileges, triggering a groundswell of angry reactions on the micro-blogging site.

Rajashekar, a defence accounts officer, regretted the “inadvertent” tweet but by then the issue had already escalated into a debate over the civil-military divide. It began on Thursday when. reacting to a tweet questioning whether a civilian officer at Chandimandir-based Western Command could fly the formation’s flag on his car, Prakash wrote on Twitter, “Even if misuse of an Army Command’s insignia by a civilian is not a cognizable offence, the person needs to be reprimanded by the GOCinC whose “Financial Adviser” he is.” It was this tweet that Rajashekar responded to using the ministry’s spokesperson’s official Twitter handle.

She wrote, “What about the misuse of jawans in your residence during an officer’s tenure, sir? And how about children being picked up and dropped to school in Fauji gaadis? Not to mention Madam’s shopping expeditions on government vehicles. And endless parties…who pays for that?” She deleted the controversial tweet amid the outrage it triggered but users had already taken screenshots and widely shared them. “This is indeed shameful for @SpokespersonMoD to tweet this to a former Service Chief,” tweeted Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies.