Days after he was superseded for the Army chief’s post, lt General Praveen Bakshi met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in his office on Wednesday leading to speculation that the officer is likely to quit. Refusing to disclose the details of one-to-one meeting lasting about 20 minutes, Ministry officials said it was a “courtesy call” by Bakshi following a request by him. He later met Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag.
last Saturday, the Government had selected Bakshi’s junior lt General Bipin Rawat as the new Army chief. He will take charge on January 1 after Suhag retires. At present, Rawat is Vice Chief of the Army, while Bakshi is heading the Eastern Command which looks after the strategically important line of Actual Control (lAC) with China.
The Government also announced that current Vice Chief of IAF Air Marshal BS Dhanoa will be the new chief after the present chief Arup Raha retires on December 31.
Bakshi is the senior most Army officer, but the Government did away with “time honoured” tradition of opting for the senior most officer for the top job and selected Rawat, who is at least one year junior to Bakshi. Rawat, superseded two officers, including Bakshi and Southern Command chief lt General PM Hariz. The latter is six months senior to Rawat. However, in case of IAF, the Government went with the seniority criteria and named Dhanoa.
Given the hierarchy-conscious nature of the armed forces, speculations were rife that Bakshi may put in his papers after duly informing Parrikar and the Army Chief rather than serve under a junior officer.
Bakshi is due to retire in July 2017 while Hariz retires in December the same year. Rawat will serve as Army chief till December 2019.
Before Bakshi met Parrikar and sparked speculation about “quitting”, it was conjectured that he may be made Permanent Chairman Chief of Staff Committee, a new post wherein the Chairman is the single-window adviser to the political leadership on national security matters.
The proposal to set up such a Committee was mooted by a committee headed by then Home Minister lK Advani in 2001 in the wake of Kargil war in 1999. The Advani panel was entrusted to give recommendations about improvements in higher defence management.
This was the first time in more than three decades that the seniority principle was not adhered to while selecting the Army Chief. In 1983, then Vice Chief lt General SK Sinha, the senior most officer was ignored and his junior A Vaidya got the coveted post. Sinha resigned in protest days later. Incidentally, Sinha was an infantry officer while Vaidya was an armoured corps officer. It was the other way round this time as Rawat is an infantry officer while Bakshi is a tank man.