Centre has the right to decide

Supersession seems to be a muchtalked-about word today, specially by people who do not understand the services’ (Army, Navy and Air Force) ethos. The government is well within its rights to decide who should be at the helm of its most potent and reliable force.

Such decisions are not taken at the whim of ethical and country cousin syndrome, but seriously deliberated upon and pros and cons taken into account, which having been in the Army for 36 long years, I can understand. Emotionally I would go with a large number of writers saying that seniority should have been followed, but you don’t run a nation on emotions, one has to be practical and look at the needs of the time.

There have been instances of such supersessions going wrong, with the 1962 war and Bluestar as examples, but it may well have happened without supersessions too. Let me highlight the issue of supersession in the Army, it starts off at the rank of colonel because the pyramid is too steep, so other than the COAS all others face the prodigal sword all the time.

For once, if we only follow the principle of seniority, then merit is to be given the go-by as such a cadet who passed out ahead of you will always be at an advantage.

The thumb rule being that you start with a clean slate after getting a commission, and prove your worth as a competent leader.

The selection of the commander-in-chief has a large number of criteria attached and the government does play a major role as the Indian Army is rightly under the democratically-elected government. However, if only seniority was the issue, then why will the government say anything at all? Merit and capability with the need of the hour must have been at the forefront when selecting the next COAS.

The issue of politicisation of the appointment of COAS cannot be viewed from one direction only. In any case, when you are subservient to a democratically-elected government, the element of influence happens much before reaching the position of Chief.

Thus, the needs of the government is of paramount importance.

Having said all this it is essential not to criticise the decision and give Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat a clean slate to write the future and plan the way ahead of the Indian Army.

His experience and acumen is well documented and I am sure he will prove to be an able holder of the appointment of COAS.