Stating that CDS General Bipin Rawat was a "freely moving General" and spoke with everyone irrespective of their ranks, Brigadier (Retd.) V Mahalingam condoled the death of Rawat and said his demise is "damaging and upsetting".
Mahalingam said, "It's a tragedy as far as I am concerned. My wife was teaching both of his daughters in the Army Public School. We have met several times. Though I had several issues with him, which were professional, his demise is damaging and upsetting."
He further said, "General Bipin Rawat was very much involved in the restructuring of the armed forces. The Army, Navy and Air Force are the three separate entities. The restructuring that he was aiming at is to integrate them and make the structure capable of fighting an integrated battle in a digitised environment. His loss is going to affect us because the next man coming in going to take quite some time to get into the picture and it also depends whether he is in line with General Bipin Rawat's thinking or he is going to have a different approach to it. I wish he had stayed much longer and has settled the issue of restructuring the armed forces."
Brig. Mahalingam said, "He was very considerate and a freely moving General. He spoke with everybody irrespective of his rank and was positive. He was a very fine soldier and a fine gentleman."
( With inputs from ANI )
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