“The government of India has displayed a serious failure of statecraft in the handling of the age related matter of the Army Chief,” said BJP's chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

He said, “The Army is a very important institution of India about which the entire country is proud. This sensitive matter ought to have been handled properly by the government internally, to the satisfaction of all concerned, instead of allowing it to come in public domain and resultant court proceedings.”

His colleague Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “It is a complete lack of statecraft of the government. Shockingly, the issue, which should have been resolved amicably, is calling for a judicial intervention. This is unfortunate and shows a complete erosion of the credibility of the government.”

Another party leader Balbir Punj attacked the government for its alleged “inefficient” handling of the issue.

“I wish they had paid more attention trying to talk to the General at an appropriate time and there would have been no problem because the General is known as a very reasonable person.

“But unfortunately the UPA II has been too busy politically and they did not pay adequate attention and handled the issue totally inefficiently,” he charged.

General Singh moved the Supreme Court yesterday challenging the government's rejection of his claim on his date of birth.