Lt Gen Bipin Rawat to be new Army chief; Air Marshal BS Dhanoa to be new IAF chief

NEW DELHI: In a move that evoked criticism for junking the long-enshrined seniority principle in appointing service chiefs, the government appointed Lt General Bipin Rawat on Saturday night as the next Army chief superseding two Lieutenant Generals. He will replace General Dalbir Singh Suhag on December 31.Lt General Bipin Rawat (infantry), who took over as the Army vice-chief in September 2016, bypassed Eastern Command chief Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi (armoured corps) and Southern Army Command chief Lt Gen PM Hariz (mechanised infantry).However, the government stuck to the seniority principle in appointment of the next IAF chief, by announcing that Air Marshal Birendra Singh Dhanoa will replace Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on December 31.Even though it's well within the right of a government to appoint whoever it wants as the next chief, successive dispensations have almost always followed the seniority principle. All eyes are now on Lt Gens Bakshi and Hariz to see whether they will quit in protest - as Lt Gen SK Sinha had done in 1983 after being superseded by Gen AS Vaidya - since serving under a junior is unacceptable in the extremely hierarchy-conscious force.Lt Gen Bakshi and Lt Gen Hariz were commissioned in December 1977 and June 1978 respectively. Lt Gen Rawat was commissioned into the fifth battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1978.Exceptions to seniority-based appointments have been few and far between. when Indira Gandhi superseded Lt Gen SK Sinha to appoint Gen AS Vaidya as the Army chief in 1983. Similarly, Air Chief Marshal SK Mehra became IAF chief, superseding Air Marshal MM Singh in 1988. Lt Gen Sinha, of course, quietly resigned but went on to become governor of Assam and J&K, and also served as India's ambassador to Nepal.The last time a services chief was appointed superceding his seniors was in the Navy. Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha was superseded by Admiral Robin Dhowan to become Navy chief in April 2014 after the then chief Admiral DK Joshi resigned taking moral responsibility after a string of warship accidents.The Opposition immediately attacked the Modi-led government for “further politicising“ the armed forces, which are justifiably proud of their apolitical and secular credentials, after it first went to town over the “surgical strikes“ against terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.But conversely, say some experts, military chiefs are meant to oversee the management of national security and strategy in tune with what has been decided by the top political executive. “It's actually the ease of doing business. So, the political executive should have no constraints while choosing who it wants to be the next military chief, RBI governor or foreign secretary. That's does not mean that the ones overlooked are less competent,“ said a senior expert.Added a top government official, “There are seven Army commanders (of six regional and one training command) and a vice-chief, who are all of equal rank. Lt-Gen Rawat got the sword of honour at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun."The official said Lt Gen Rawat had over 10 years of hands-on experience in counter-insurgency operations, and has served at both the Line of Control (with Pakistan) and the Line of Actual Control (with China)."He has been selected on grounds of both merit and suitability. Both Lt-Gens Bakshi and Hariz have had very limited operational experience in J&K and elsewhere,” he said.But Congress leader Manish Tiwari, on his part, said: “Why has seniority not been respected in the appointment of Army chief? Why have Lt Gens Bakshi and Hariz been superseded, Mr PM? Why has third senior most officer, Lt-Gen Rawat, with due respects to his professionalism, superseded other two in a hierarchical force?”’This was echoed by some other quarters. “Should we leave it to our opportunistic and immature political leaders to play politics with top appointments in the armed forces? Next, we will have caste considerations being taken into account in the armed forces,” said a retd Lt-General.Apart from prominent examples like that of Lt-Gen Sinha , successive governments have stuck to the seniority principle. The current NDA government, for instance, appointed General Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next Army chief from July 2014 onwards soon after it came to power - despite minister of state for external affairs Gen V K Singh (retd), the BJP Lok Sabha MP from Ghaziabad, actively gunning for him on all fronts.Earlier, again on the seniority principle, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major was appointed the IAF chief to replace Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi in April 2007 despite being a helicopter and not a fighter pilot. ACM Major became the first-ever helicopter pilot to take over the reins of IAF since it came into being in 1932.The one recent supersession in the Navy was when Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha was superseded by Admiral Robin Dhowan to become Navy chief in April 2014 after the then chief Admiral D K Joshi resigned taking moral responsibility after a string of warship accidents.