Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut
New Delhi: A day after the death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 army personnel in a chopper crash, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday raised questions on the accident saying that people have doubts in their minds.
Noting that the helicopter ferrying Gen Rawat was a modern machine powered by two engines, Raut took to Twitter and asked if the CDS of the country was not safe 'then what was safe?'
He further asked how an accident like that can happen when the country's supreme commander travels in the most sophisticated and safe helicopter.
"This is very unfortunate. The country's supreme commander travels in the most sophisticated and safe helicopter and dies in an accident. People have doubts in their minds, what has happened, how can this happen? I am sure the government also would not have come out of this shock," Raut said in a tweet (roughly translated from Hindi).
Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, said Gen Rawat had played a key role in formulating the nation's military response against China and Pakistan in recent times.
Raut claimed that the entire country and the leadership may have been confounded by this accident, and the Defence Minister or the prime minister should eliminate all doubts.
The Shiv Sena leader also noted that Gen Rawat had also played a key role in the airstrikes launched by India after the Pulwama attack.
Gen Bipin Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff, his wife Madhulika and 11 other armed forces personnel died on Wednesday after the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Air Force had said.