Challenged status quo, pushed reforms even if it ruffled feathers

Whether one agreed or disagreed with him, one could never ignore India’s top military officer, General Bipin Rawat.

- Rajat Pandit

New Delhi: Whether one agreed or disagreed with him, one could never ignore India’s top military officer, General Bipin Rawat. He himself made it very clear that as the country’s first-ever CDS, his mandate was to push ‘jointness and integration’ among the Army, Navy and IAF despite stiff resistance, while also weaning the forces off their overwhelming dependence on expensive foreign weapon systems.

“Gen Rawat was a total gogetter. He did not believe in being a status-quoist. In meetings, he would often go on the offensive in his typically blunt manner but if you knew your stuff and spoke with conviction, he would always listen intently,” said a senior military officer. Gen Rawat, appointed the CDS on December 31, 2019 after three years as the Army chief, did ruffle many feathers among both serving officers as well as the vocal veteran community.

He publicly junked the Navy’s long-standing case for a third aircraft carrier and rejected the IAF’s concerns over integrated theatre commands. During a seminar, he even went so far as to dub the IAF “a supporting arm” in war-fighting, akin to artillery or engineers in the Army.

Several proposals mooted during Gen Rawat’s tenure, ranging from measures to slash non-operational military flab and the pension bill to “monetisation” of defence land and restrictions on CSD purchases, sent shockwaves down the ranks.

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