About a year ago, General Bipin Rawat was cruelly snatched away from us. It was the consequence of a Mi17V5 helicopter crash in Coonoor of Tamil Nadu. Others who perished with him in that tragic incident were his wife and eleven other armed forces personnel. Gen Rawat was an illustrious chief of the famed Indian Army. His selection as our country’s first Chief of Defence Staff or CDS, adorned him with the distinction of being the first to be selected to that position. His career comprised nearly four decades. In the Indian consciousness, Gen Rawat had become a cynosure.
Belonging to the northern, mountainous state of Uttarakhand, Gen Rawat completed school from Shimla and went to the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla. Subsequently, he undertook further qualification from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. He joined the Indian Army circa 1978. Thereafter, achievements and accomplishments littered his career path. He had tenacious determination to complete a required task with an attendant outward amicable demeanour. Such qualities contributed substantially to propel him to the pinnacle of his vocation.
India’s armed forces evoke pride. Notwithstanding accusations against it from some quarters, the forces have consistently made the country proud of them. Admittedly, there have been failures. But, such missteps were mostly the outcome of inept political decisions. Otherwise, as regards securing the country from outward aggression and participating in UN Peacekeeping missions, the Indian armed forces have perennially distinguished itself. To bring about such aftermaths, the dedication, valour, and hard work of several army officers and jawans have been relentless. Gen Rawat was undoubtedly a participant in such activities. He took part in several crucial army operations and was crowned with success. Additionally, he also commanded a multinational brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In propinquity, Gen Rawat supervised the cross-border operation in Myanmar in 2015 and coordinated the 2016 surgical strikes into Pakistan; he also monitored the Indian Air Force strike on Balakot, within Pakistan, in 2019.
Here is the crucial rub. Pakistan started a proxy war with India from 1990: training terrorists to create mayhem in Kashmir and gradually in other parts of India was presumed by Pakistani authorities as a perpetual low cost, viable strategy against India. Despite sundry rounds of talks, threats and counter-threats, delaying tactics and denials, Pakistani authorities had merrily continued this strategy for decades. The first decisive Indian counter-attack occurred in September, 2016, after Pakistan-trained and abetted terrorists orchestrated killings at an Indian military camp at Uri, in Jammu & Kashmir.
After that outrageous incident, the Government of India inferred that the threshold of deterrence was breached. Pakistan needed to be administered a requisite rejoinder, emphasizing that such attacks would not be countenanced any further. To that end, a ruthless, counter-attack plan against terror camps in Pakistan was formulated. The team of gallant Indian Army soldiers who carried out that operation did it with resplendent success. Gen Rawat was among those who participated in laying out the blueprint for that operation, and its subsequent carry out.
Gen Rawat was once accused of having indirectly interfered in the political process. But, he was possibly too professional a soldier to want to indulge in such acts. Probably, it was his concern for the country’s security and stability which might have urged him to some articulations which were wrongly interpreted. Nevertheless, the government of the day was certain about his professionalism and commitment to work to give that any weight.
There have been instances before, where other notable Chiefs of the Indian Army were subjected to accusations. When Prime Minister Nehru passed away, the then very able Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, General Jayanta Chowdhury, had arbitrarily moved a column of soldiers to the capital to prevent any incident of crowd unruliness. Alarm bells in the Intelligence Bureau rang immediately. After the matter was clarified, Chowdhury was held to task and even came to some grief, subsequently. It testifies that even if an illustrious Army Chief had committed a tactical error of not informing the concerned civilian authorities about a move, it could have deleterious consequences. Nevertheless, Gen Rawat had done nothing comparable to it.
During the height of the Emergency, then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, showed an IB report to the late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. It entailed that the famed Field Marshal might have designs against the Indira Gandhi dispensation. The Field Marshall enquired from the Prime Minister whether she believed in such incredible stuff. Indira Gandhi told him that if she had accepted even an iota of what was mentioned, she would not have shown that report to him. This is another instance of needless suspicion against an Army Chief when the situation did not warrant any. As the Field Marshall had the full confidence of the then dispensation, so had Gen Rawat of the concerned administration.
Gen Rawat had averred that India was able and would continue to improve its capabilities to combat in a two-front war if the situation ever demanded of it. His implication was about battling China and Pakistan simultaneously if such an extreme situation ever arose. For that, he, along with his able colleagues, had striven consistently to prepare the country towards that purpose. From all this arose the necessity to form a unitary post from where effective coordination between the three armed forces of the country would be overseen.
After deliberations on that possibility for years, the post of the CDS was created during the governance of the current dispensation. Gen Rawat was given the honour to become the first CDS. Had he lived, he would have surely continued to improve the standards and operational efficacy of our armed forces. The new CDS, Lt. General Anil Chauhan, is very likely to proceed on similar objectives.
In days ahead, former CDS, General Bipin Rawat’s name would surely be invoked with respect and pride.
(The author is a columnist with specializations in
International Affairs, the
Economy, Indian politics, and certain feature topics)
