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By appointing Lt Gen Raja Subramani, currently the Military Adviser to the National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, as India’s third Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the government has signalled continuity and confirmed that its focus remains on the primary challenge from land, i.e., China and its proxy Pakistan. He will succeed Gen Anil Chauhan, who hangs up his boots for the second time on May 30.
While, in theory, the CDS post is open to all three services, until joint theatre commands are in place and functional, the Navy and the Air Force will have to wait their turn for a shot at the top post.
For months now, there has been feverish speculation about who will be India’s next CDS, with the names of current Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi and Navy Chief Adm DK Tripathi also thrown in the mix, besides a number of others. But as I had mentioned in a post on March 20 (https://x.com/nitingokhale/status/2034806221581299733?s=20), the extant notification about the eligibility for appointment to the post of CDS made it clear that it would be a three-star officer (retired or serving who had not attained the age of 62 on the date of the appointment) who would succeed Gen Chauhan.
The Indian military is set to witness several changes at the very top in the next three months starting with a new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Gen Anil Chauhan, the current incumbent, was given an extension in September last year until May 30, 2026. So, a new CDS is due by end… https://t.co/SDbKDnpZdI pic.twitter.com/zR0cIFSVIp
— Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) March 20, 2026
I heard of one more criterion that was applied: seniority in the case of appointing Service Chiefs, and merit in naming the CDS. This principle has held firm in the appointment of the current three service chiefs and their immediate predecessors, as well as in naming VAdm Krishna Swaminathan as the next Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) from May 31, announced almost concurrently with the appointment of Gen Subramani as the next CDS on Saturday morning.
That the principle of merit and not seniority was applied is clearly visible in Gen Subramani’s appointment as the next CDS despite him being exactly one year junior to the current Army Chief (Gen Dwivedi) and Air Chief ACM AP Singh (who were commissioned in December 1984, while Gen Subramani was commissioned in December 1985). Gen Dwivedi is set to superannuate in June 2026, and ACM Singh retires in October 2026.
Gen Subramani, an Infantry officer with vast experience across India’s varied conflict zones, from the north-east to J&K and from Sikkim to Punjab, was Vice Chief of Army Staff during last year’s Op Sindoor and has since shifted to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) as Military Adviser. He follows the same path as Gen Anil Chauhan to the post of CDS. Gen Chauhan was also MA to the NSA before becoming CDS in 2022.
Commissioned in the Garhwal Rifles, Gen Subramani was Army Commander Central Command, Vice Chief of the Army and has commanded a Strike Corps (II Corps), a Division in Sikkim (17 Div, during the 2017 Dolam crisis with China), a brigade in Samba (168 Brigade) and was commanding officer of 16 Garhwal Rifles in Assam. He has also done a stint as India’s Defence Attache in Kazakhstan.
The government expects him to implement now the plans to roll out the three joint theatre commands planned by the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) under Gen Anil Chauhan. Gen Chauhan has already submitted his final blueprint to Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh last week.
Nitin A Gokhale
Author, thought leader and one of South Asia's leading strategic analysts, Nitin A. Gokhale has forty years of rich and varied experience behind him as a conflict reporter, Editor, author and now a media entrepreneur who owns and curates two important digital platforms, BharatShakti.in and StratNewsGlobal.com focusing on national security, strategic affairs and foreign policy matters.
At the beginning of his long and distinguished career, Gokhale has lived and reported from India’s North-east for 23 years, writing and analysing various insurgencies in the region, been on the ground at Kargil in the summer of 1999 during the India-Pakistan war, and also brought live reports from Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009.
Author of over a dozen books on wars, insurgencies and conflicts, Gokhale relocated to Delhi in 2006, was Security and Strategic Affairs Editor at NDTV, a leading Indian broadcaster for nine years, before launching in 2015 his own digital properties.
An alumni of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii, Gokhale now writes, lectures and analyses security and strategic matters in Indo-Pacific and travels regularly to US, Europe, South and South-East Asia to speak at various international seminars and conferences.
Gokhale also teaches at India’s Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), the three war colleges, India's National Defence College, College of Defence Management and the intelligence schools of both the R&AW and Intelligence Bureau.
He tweets at @nitingokhale
