“We do not accept change, we are status quoists”

Some weeks before his tragic death, GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT spoke to Managing Editor SANDEEP UNNITHAN about why bringing change is so difficult, the road ahead for India’s military reforms and on the full spectrum of India’s security challenges. Edited excerpts from the interview

- SANDEEP UNNITHAN

Q. You will be completing two years as CDS. What will your report to the government be?

My main charter was to move forward on the integration [of the three services], which I am on track. I am looking at all four theatre commands coming up nearsimultaneously. MTC (Maritime Theatre Command) has moved fast, land-based theatre commands have also moved fast. We have some issues with the air force regarding resources, but an Air Defence Command has to come up. How they will manage the resources, we want only the air force to do, but you need to integrate all airspace management. ADC will manage your airspace commands.

When I look at theatre commands, I always give the example of the 1971 war when General [Jasjit Singh] Aurora was the eastern theatre commander. But to make that theatre, we had sufficient time. [In] future battles, you won’t get time, you won’t even know that war has started, because it may start with non-contact warfare first—the adversary may actually target you through cyberwar and hit your power grids.

Q. Are you convinced (the March 2021 Mumbai power grid failure) was a cyberattack by China?