Setting at rest speculations that he may quit after getting superseded for the post of Army chief, lt General Praveen Bakshi on Saturday announced “full support” to the new chief General Bipin Rawat and said he will continue to lead the Eastern Command with full “professional sincerity as hither to fore”. Bakshi also called up Rawat to congratulate him after he took charge from incumbent General Dalbir Singh Suhag, who retired.
Addressing his officers through video-conferencing from Kolkata-based Eastern Command on the eve of the New Year, Bakshi also requested that speculation and trolling in media and social media should stop and everyone should focus on contributing their best to the betterment of the Army and the nation.
Bakshi, who had met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar days after being superseded, was obviously referring to speculations that he may rather quit than serve under a junior officer. “I convey my best wishes and full support of Eastern Command to General Bipin Rawat on having taken over as the Chief of Army Staff,” he said.
Buzz in the corridors of South Block housing Defence Ministry was that Bakshi may get the new post of Chief of Defence Staff(CDS). Parrikar is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in mid January to discuss the modalities of creating the new post which is part of higher defence management reforms.
A committee, headed by then Home Minister lK Advani, had proposed the creation of CDS or Permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee and this officer will provide single-window military advise to the political leadership of matters of national security. The Advani committee was set up in the wake of Kargil war in 1999 to recommend reforms in higher Defence management system.
The Government had done away with the convention of selecting the senior most officer for the top post and named Rawat as the new Chief a fortnight back. He superseded two officers including Baskhi, the senior most, and Southern Command chief lt General P M Hariz.
While Bakshi is at least one year senior to Rawat, Hariz is senior by seven months. Bakshi, an Armoured Corps officer, will retire in July end next year while Hariz, a Mechanised Infantry officer, will hang his boots in November end in 2017. The last time senior most officer overlooked for the top job was in 1983 when lt General SK Sinha, then Vice Chief, was superseded and General AS Vaidya was selected as the Army chief. Sinha then resigned.
Justifying the decision to elevate Rawat, who was Vice Chief of Army, the Government maintained he has vast experience in dealing with insurgency and terrorism and served on the line of Control (lOC) in Jammu & Kashmir besides stints on the line of Actual Control(lAC) facing China. The Government also said Rawat was selected keeping in view the current security situation wherein terrorism and counter-insurgency was the main challenge. Bakshi served mostly in the plains of Punjab and Rajasthan during his career.