In a rare break from tradition, India appoints an army chief out-of-turn

Government has decided to appoint Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat, Vice Chief of Army Staff as next Chief of Army Staff wef afternoon of Dec 31.

— DPR (@SpokespersonMoD) December 17, 2016

Govt has decided to appoint Air Marshal BS Dhanoa as the next Chief of Air Staff wef afternoon of Dec 31. @IAF_MCC

— DPR (@SpokespersonMoD) December 17, 2016

Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, one of army’s most upright and competent officers, misses out on army chief’s job. Will he be 1st tri-service chief?

— Ajai Shukla (@ajaishukla) December 17, 2016

The out-of-turn appointment of an officer as army chief is a rare move in independent India’s military history. It is bound to be perceived as part of the creeping politicisation of the strictly apolitical armed forces of the country.

Earlier this year, the government’s over-the-top celebration of a military operation was criticised by sections within the country as part of this trend.

Referred to as “surgical strikes” now, it involved Indian Army personnel attacking terrorist launch-pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. While this operation was said to be in retaliation to a terrorist attack on an Indian Army base, political leaders and officials have since been seen and heard projecting this as a major achievement of the reigning government, especially prime minister Narendra Modi himself. Many observers have alleged that such political appropriation of a strictly military and not entirely unprecedented operation was uncharacteristic of a professional army and a mature democracy.

India’s incoming army chief commissioned in the 5th Battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles in Dec. 1978, after graduating from IMA, Dehradun. He had previously commanded an infantry battalion, along the Line of Actual Control, and an infantry division in the Kashmir Valley.