A General Committed to Reforms
India has lost a capable and experienced military leader in the tragic death of Gen Bipin Rawat, the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), in a helicopter crash near Coonoor on 8 December 2021.
Gen Rawat was appointed the first CDS on January 1, 2020, as well as Secretary of the newly created Department of Military Affairs (DMA) after he completed three years service as the Chief of the Army Staff. He had another year left to serve as the CDS.
Gen. Rawat will go down as the most impactful, reforming leader the Indian Armed Forces have seen in their history. He successfully restored the role of the armed forces as a premier stakeholder in strategic decision-making, even influencing foreign policy.
His acumen was recognised across boundaries as a military leader. On his passing the UN Secretary-General, the US secretary of state, Russia and Israel, among others, paid deservingly and befittingly rich tributes.
As CDS, he was expected to function as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister, work in tandem with the three Service chiefs, who operate in their respective domains — a role and function that is still in the making.
Gen Rawat would not hesitate to call a spade a spade and back the much needed reforms in the Armed Forces for synergy and building capabilities.
After he took over the mantle of the Army Chief, at the customary media interaction in January 2017, it became amply clear that here was an Army Chief who was firm in his convictions, would not pull his punches when required and would definitely not shy away from speaking his mind in a forthright and erudite manner. He was a man who would back his decisions to the hilt.
Under Gen. Rawat’s leadership, a mission was carried out inside Myanmar in which militant camps were decimated in response to an ambush by Myanmar-based NSCN(K) militants in 2015.
As Army vice-chief, he played a key role in the surgical strike across the India-Pakistan Line of Control in 2016. Gen Rawat was highly vocal to publicly emphasise that force would be used against those across the border in Pakistan, if they threatened Indian interests. He was determined to end militancy in Kashmir. He planned the action in the Kashmir Valley, which broke the backbone of terrorism in the Valley, creating suitable conditions for the abrogation of Article 370.
He believed, rightly, that China, not Pakistan, was India’s chief adversary; and was the first chief to say so in public.
As Secretary DMA, Gen Rawat was tasked with bridging the gap between the civilian bureaucrats and the uniformed officials. He was meant to be the harbinger of a revolution in both bureaucratic and military affairs. He was a man on a mission and wanted to bring multiple changes, perhaps too fast for the liking of many within the forces and the veteran community.
Much ground has been covered in implementing the theaterisation model for the armed forces, with him in the helm for two years. His ideas on a joint Air Defence Command, a Logistics Command and Maritime Theatre Command have taken seed. He also wanted the three Services to combine certain logistics and training facilities to avoid duplication. He oversaw the operationalisation of three Joint Logistics Nodes at Guwahati, Port Blair and Mumbai.
Gen. Rawat was working towards evolving consensus amongst the Services on integrated theatre commands, which would be the biggest reorganisation of the Indian armed forces since Independence.
He was also clear that the Armed Forces could modernise only by cutting the flab so that the burden of defence budget could be reduced and make a leaner and meaner force, capable of fighting wars of the future.
Rawat was a gentleman, gallant and professional, and a proud Gorkha. His boots will be hard to fill.
