Can The New Superchief Call The Shots?

The armed forces will finally have a super boss—the Chief of Defence Staff. Whether the new incumbent can transform India’s defence apparatus and make the services a more effectively coordinated fighting unit will depend on how categorical his writ is

- Sandeep Unnithan

The Red Fort is both a powerful metaphor for India’s military might and a backdrop for change. The crenellated seat of two empires, Mughal and British, it was from this fort’s ramparts that India announced to the world that it had made the transition into an independent republic. It was also from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India’s most significant defence reform in 72 years. Speaking at the Red Fort on the 72nd Independence Day, Modi announced the institution of the post of a Chief of Defence Staff(CDS). The CDS would be the government’s single-point military advisor, and “sharpen coordination between the forces” making them “even more effective”, he said. Even for a government that has made stealth, secrecy and surprise its hallmarks, the announcement came as a bolt from the blue. Few within the mammoth ministry of defence, which has functioned almost without change since the days of the British Raj, saw it coming.

Even the armed forces were taken by surprise. Early last year, in a first across-the-board consensus, the three services agreed to appoint a permanent chairman of the Chiefs of StaffCommittee (CoSC). The proposal sent to the PMO for approval was for a fourth four-star officer who would head the CoSC consisting of the three service chiefs (it is currently held by the seniormost service chief in rotation). The CDS, which Modi opted to announce instead, is a massive step-up from a permanent chairman. “The decision was like Article 370,” says one senior military official. “Everyone expected minor tinkering… the government instead went for radical change.”