Mourning has descended on a small town in Madhya Pradesh, where several army veterans have settled, some of whom have had close ties with the Chief of Defense Staff general. Bipin Rawat Who along with his wife Madhulika and 11 others died in a helicopter crash in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu yesterday afternoon. The small town of Mhow houses the Infantry School, Army War College and Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE).
After hearing about Rawat’s passing, some of these army veterans have shared personal memories of their bond with the CDS.
Sikhs remembers Colonel KK Sharma (Retd) Bipin Rawat of Light Infantry from his NDA (National Defense Academy) days. “We joined NDA together and he passed out from IMA Dehradun with a sword of honour. He had many great plans for the defense services, the country will feel his loss.”
Armored Corps colonel Anil Ummat (retired) remembers his childhood friend Rawat with a heavy heart: “We were army friends as our father was posted in Dehradun. Later, we were together again as Young Gentleman Cadets at the IMA in Dehradun. And then as a trainer in the same in 1986, when he tied the knot with Madhulika. We were again attending the JC course at the College of Combat in Mhow. As a brigadier, he narrowly escaped two ambushes while serving with the UN Peace Keeping Force in the Congo. As Commander 3 Corps in Dimapur, he survived without being seriously injured when his helicopter crashed. Unfortunately this time luck was not with him and his companions. He will be greatly missed by the nation, the defense services and his family and friends.”
Another Army veteran, Lt Gen JS Sandhu (Retd) of 6/5 Gorkha Rifles said that he is shocked and saddened to hear the sad news. He recalls his tenure as Army Secretary in 2018-19 and his weekly one-on-one conversations with Army Chief Bipin Rawat. Sandhu recalled, “I also remember how he insisted on spending some time with me in Srinagar when I was commanding 15 Corps and he landed late due to bad weather as Army Chief And the pilots were insisting on taking off before the weather turned bad.” , “On the personal front, my family remembers how Rawat attended our daughter’s wedding in Delhi in March 2019,” Sandhu said.
The founder and director of the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare College, Kanker, Chhattisgarh, remembers Brigadier BK Ponwar Rawat as an enthusiastic and energetic young lieutenant who attended the commando course at the Infantry School Commando Wing at Belgaum, Karnataka, when he was stationed there. As an instructor in 1979-80. He said, ‘I also remember that when I used to brief him about the Naxalite situation, he used to listen very carefully to me as the army chief. He has laid a strong foundation for inter-service cooperation and theater command. We will miss her terribly.”
11 of the Gorkha Rifles Major General RN Suryavanshi (retired) remembers watching young Bipin as an NDA cadet when he was an adjutant and Rawat Sr. was second in command of the 3/11 Gorkha Rifles. “He was a great visionary. Whether it was to replace the INSAS rifles with the Russian AK 203 or the creation of Theater Command – it was all because of his forward thinking. He personally responded to the surgical strikes in Myanmar and the Indian Army in Doklam. Madhulika was a doctor but she stopped practicing to take care of her ailing father and later devoted herself to welfare activities for defense families. Both she and her father shared the same battalion. – Commanded 5/11 GR. Truly a dark day for our regiment. A great loss for the nation.”
Chief of Defense Staff General Rawat’s last visit to Mhow was in August when he visited MCTE. Little did the Army personnel posted in Mhow know that this would be their last visit.
As told to guest writer DK Vasudevan, Mhow
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