Chandigarh
6 January 2020
DIVYA AZAD
The ceremony of Gen M M Naravane’s, taking over as Chief of Army Staff was attended by his first commanding officer Brigadier (Retd.) Madan Das who is a resident of Chandigarh. Brig Das shared his views on the new Army Chief.
“Gen Naravane served under me in 7 Sikh LI when I was commanding it. The present chief has been a remarkable officer and has a very effective working style. I am happy that the Indian Army has got an impeccable chief under whose command the force will flourish and attain greater heights.”
Brigadier Madan Das who attended the inauguration of General Naravane in Delhi says that it was a very exhilarating moment for him when the new Chief assumed office formally. He recalled that he had first welcomed him into the unit in 1980 when he was a young 2/Lt. Now a retired veteran his first CO of yesteryears was also the first regimental veteran to greet him after his inauguration as the Chief.
“When Gen Naravane got commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry he was then wearing a single star on his shoulder flaps and I felt immense happiness seeing his epaulettes embellished with a lot more shining brass at the inauguration,” said the veteran Brigadier.
The ceremony in South Block, Army HQ was kept at a low key by Naravane and even so it took a lot of effort on part of his staff to fit it into his busy schedule of the day. The ceremony was sombre and dignified without any frills.
When asked if you could predict if the young officer who came to you in 1980 would rise to become the Chief of the 1.3 million strong Indian Army one day? Brigadier Madan Das said, “I had judged that the young man was not one run-of the-mill guys. He was thorough and would see through the problem in its entirety before taking any decision. He was intelligent hard working. He was also fortunate to have very competent seniors and peers in 7 Sikh LI. The presence of such officers had created a healthy professional competition within the battalion. I am proud to say three of those also rose to become generals and the fourth is General Naravane the Chief.”
Added Brig Das, “I was quite sure that he would rise to great heights in the Army. I had generally followed his progress during his service. He was accredited to Mynamar as a Military Attache, kept the peace in volatile Sri Lanka as part of IPKF, Commanded a unit in J&K, has varied experience in the North East. You will hence see that, he knows the subcontinent from Sri Lanka to Kashmir, Sikkim to Nagaland to Arunachal and beyond to Rangoon. He has it all under his belt. And mind you just count the string of decorations suffixed to his name. One has to earn these decorations by dint of hard work. He also has an enviable number of academic degrees he has obtained from universities”.
It is noteworthy that tricity has a good connect with the new army chief through the regiment which he represents – Sikh Light Infantry. Apart from Brig Madan Das who was his first CO, tricity is also home to two Chiefs from Sikh Light Infantry – Gen V P Malik PVSM, AVSM and Gen Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC.
