New Delhi: The Country’s Armed Forces stayed away from politics and worked as per the directives of the Government, said the new Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat. On Wednesday, after assuming the CDS office Rawat said that “We stay away; we stay far away from politics”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the creation of the Department of Military Affairs and Institutionalization of the post of CDS are momentous reforms that will help the country face ever changing challenges of modern warfare. Modi in his tweet said that “I am delighted that as we begin the New Year and new decade, India gets its first CDS in Gen. Bipin Rawat. I congratulate him and wish him the very best for this responsibility. He is an outstanding officer who has served India with great zeal”.

CDS mandate was to integrate the efforts of the three services took work as a team, said Gen. Rawat. He also said that he wants to assure the Country, the Army, Navy and Air Force will work as a team. The CDS will keep control over them, but action will be taken through team work, he said. The CDS will not try to run a force by his directions, and will remain neutral towards all the three services, said Rawat. He also said that India does not need to follow the Western model on Joint Theatre commands and can have its own mechanism for a Tri service command system. “We will work with all three services and come out with mechanism which was suit for Indian system, he said.