Qaisar Mansoor
Politicisation of the Indian Army is no more a matter of dispute. The debate now is more on the desirability or otherwise of some amount of politicisation. The issue was triggered by the late chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat’s political activism. Commentators, including two outstanding columnists, have expressed concern over political indulgence by the serving army top brass. This, they warned, will erode the integrity of the army as an instrument of the state.
He took office of Chief of Army Staff as COAS on 31 December 2016, after retirement of General Dalbir Singh Suhag. He was the third officer from the Gorkha Brigade to become the Chief of the Army Staff, after Sam Manekshaw and Suhag.
He was to act as the point person for BJP government for coordinating between three defence services. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval played a crucial role along with Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar to finalize the roles and responsibilities of the new office of the Chief of Defence staff.
The tri-service agencies, organizations and commands relating to cyber and space were placed under the command of the CDS, and he was also acting as the Military Advisor to the Nuclear Command Authority.
The CDS was also be member of Defense Acquisition Council chaired by the defence minister and defense planning committee chaired by NSA.
In 2018, Rawat defended the army Major involved in the Kashmir human shield incident, where a Kashmiri man was tied to a jeep as a human shield.
The officer was awarded a Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card by Rawat for counter-insurgency operations.
Rawat had been criticized by the opposition party leaders for making political statements during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests.
General Rawat was considered close to Modi government, the appointment of Indian CDS was not welcomed by tri-service chief right from the outset, as they termed it as a political move by BJP/ RSS government.
Right from the beginning General Rawat’s appointment was surrounded by rumors of being an arrangement between the General Bipen and Modi to control the armed forces and exercise a tighter grip over the three services.
General Bipen did not enjoyed a good reputation in Indian air force circles, his statement to undermine the role of IAF in national security was much criticized and Indian IAF chief had to publically differ from the statement of General Bipen, thus initiating serious friction among the senior military and political circles.
As according to Chinese media, the crash of a helicopter with General Bipen Rawat, on board was unfortunate. India’ defense manufacturing sector has very limited capability.
It can make components of arms and some weapons at home, but most of its military equipment is imported and assembled in India. Its locally produced weapons are mostly modeled on arms from other countries.
The death of General Bipen Rawat took place apparently as a result of rivalry within the tri-service of Indian Armed forces.
The chopper Mi-17V5, is a boosted version of Mi-17 which has been especially upgraded for carrying VVIPs.
The aircraft was fully fit, with no bad weather conditions or engine failure. Interestingly, the only survivor from 14 people is Group Captain Varun Singh who is an Air Force officer, the rest were all from the army.
Now, the voices from veteran Indian army officers like Brigadier Sudhir Sawant (r) have appeared in public domain that publically expressed suspicion of conspiracy in the helicopter crash and viewed that the sleeper cells of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may be behind the crash.
Moreover, differences were observed among Indian NSA, Ajit Doval and CDS demanded sacking of Ajit Doval. There is a possibility that well-wishers of Ajit Doval had some links in this chopper crash.
