Lt Gen Manoj Pande has been promoted to a highest position in Indian Army despite defeat at LAC at hands of the Chinese 

By Shahid Shah 

First time in the history of Indian Army an officer from the engineering corps Lt Gen Manoj Pande has been appointed as the Chief of the Army Staff. There are three fighting arms in any army around the world responsible for preparing and executing war plans; armored, infantry, and artillery. The engineering corps, aviation and signals are considered as supporting arms. Hence, appointment of an Army Chief from Corps of Engineers at a time when CDS appointment remains pending raises many questions. Military operations led by the newly appointed Indian Chief while he was commanding 8th Mountain Division resulted into an embarrassing defeat of the Indian Army at LAC at the hands of China speaks of his professional and leadership acumen. 

Appointment of new army chief was delayed for 4 months by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Main reason was to ensure the retirement of Lt Gen Yogesh Joshi and Lt Gen Chandi Prasad Mohantay; both retired in January paving way for Lt Gen Manoj Pande. The move was an attempt to strengthen the existing saffronization of the Indian Army. Current Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane hails from Maharashtra the birth place of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Keshav Baliram Hedgewar considered pioneer of RSS. On the other hand, the newly appointed Chief has family roots in Nagpur headquarter of RSS.

Most powerful chair in the armed forces is of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) that is vacant since the suspicious death of General Bipin Rawat. General M. M. Naravane has put efforts to delay the appointment of new CDS till his retirement to pave way for his appointment as the second CDS of the Indian Armed forces. Colonel (retd) Abhay Patwardhan who has met Lt Gen Pande a couple of times in Nagpur, told a news agency that the latter did his initial schooling from the city and has a lot of acquaintances in Nagpur. He described Lt Gen Pande, as a "very capable officer, who has the ability to become the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) also.” Such statement after multiple meetings with Lt Gen Pande shows that he also aspires to become the CDS. Manoj² (Manoj Naravane and Manoj Pande) leading the Indian Army will intensify the notion of saffronization in the military resulting in lack of professionalism and an increase in internal rift, while playing to the tunes of BJP government.

Though the move to choose Lt Gen Pande as the new COAS is aimed to strengthen the extremist Hindutva ideology in the rank-and-file. This negative trend of nationalistic power surge in the Indian Army will boost schism. However, it is very much the possibility that with these hardline political appointments by BJP on ultra-nationalistic lines will have a strong extremist & jingoistic footprint on rank and file of the Indian Armed Forces.

Pande will take charge of his office on April 30 after the retirement of Gen M M Naravane. In the Indian Army history, Pande is the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to reach the top post in the Army.

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