Naravane, other two chiefs are children of air force officers
After Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane takes over as India’s next army chief in two weeks, the three serving military chiefs will have two things in common -- they are course mates from the Khadakwasla-based National Defence Academy (NDA), and their fathers served in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Both points of commonality are rare, particularly the IAF lineage, two senior officers said on Tuesday.
The army chief-designate’s father MS Naravane was a wing commander in the air force; navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh’s father Gurmaijit Singh was a wing commander too; while IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria’s father Suraj Pal Singh Bhadauria was a master warrant officer.
Naravane will take over as the army chief on December 31 when General Bipin Rawat finishes his term. Currently, he is the army’s vice-chief.
Naravane, Singh and Bhadauria are also from NDA’s 56th course.
Admiral Singh took over as the navy chief from Admiral Sunil Lanba on May 31, and Bhadauria replaced Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa as IAF chief on September 30.
“It’s remarkable that the three chiefs are from IAF families. Since they spent their childhoods in the same air force environment, they are certainly going to get along very well. And they will have high regard for IAF,” said former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major (retd).
Major, who was the IAF chief from 2007 to 2009, said NDA course mates share a bond and that decades-old camaraderie will result in a great working relationship among the three chiefs.
“If you have known each other since you were 16 and have journeyed together for almost 40 years, you have to have a great equation. Their rapport will be unmatched,” the former IAF chief said.
Several former chiefs and senior officers HT spoke to could not recall the last time the three service chiefs came from the same service background.
They, however, pointed out that General SF Rodrigues, Air Chief Marshal NC Suri and Admiral L Ramdas, who served as chiefs concurrently in the early 1990s, were also course mates.
“NDA bonds are strong. That understanding stays for life and it will reflect at the highest level when all three are chiefs,” said former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha (retd).
Raha, who served as IAF chief from 2013 to 2016, said several chiefs had come from a military background but he could not recall when three chiefs were from the same background.
Naravane, 59, is considered to be a China expert and also has vast experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir and India’s North-east.
He will take over as the army chief at a time when the force is in the midst of a restructuring exercise aimed at making it a more modernised fighting machine.