New Delhi: An Indian Air Force Mi-17V-5 helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Wednesday, killing former Army Chief and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others. 


General Bipin Rawat, 63, took charge as India's first Chief of Defence Staff in January 2019. The position was set up with the aim of integrating the three services - the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.


General Bipin Rawat, the country's 27th Army Chief, is considered an expert in counter-insurgency. The outspoken and media-savvy Bipin Rawat has hit the headlines with his comments several times in the past.


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Here are some of General Bipin Rawat's statements that triggered a controversy:


* When protests were going on over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), there was widespread violence in some states. General Bipin Rawat, then Army Chief, said that leadership wasn’t about guiding people to carry out arson and violence.


"The leader is not the one who misleads people. We have seen a large number of university and college students becoming part of the crowd for arson and violent demonstrations. This crowd is being provided a leadership but in reality this is not leadership. It requires a variety of things. When you move forward, everyone follows you. It's not that simple. It looks simple, but it is a very complex phenomenon. In fact, the leader is the one who takes you in the right direction," Bipin Rawat had said. His statement came under fire from the Opposition. 


* Major Leetul Gogoi, who tied a Kashmiri in front of his jeep in 2017, was given a citation by the then Army Chief General Bipin Rawat. Human rights activists and the people of the Valley strongly opposed the incident. Gogoi had tied the Kashmiri civilian to the front of his jeep apparently in an attempt to prevent stone-pelters from targeting his convoy. Leetul Gogoi was then found with a Kashmiri woman in a Srinagar hotel, which also created a lot of controversy.


* Bipin Rawat's statement on disability pension in December 2019 also grabbed headlines. He had said that some soldiers falsely describe themselves as "disabled" so that they could continue to get disability pension. There was also a lot of uproar over this statement.


"If a soldier is truly disabled, we will pay special attention to them and help them fully, even financially. But, those who falsely call themselves ‘disabled’ and make their disability a way to earn money, I am warning them today, that you better mend your ways otherwise in a few days you might receive special instructions from the Army Headquarters, which will not be good news for you," Rawat had said.


* In 2017, General Bipin Rawat also made a statement on stone pelters in Kashmir, triggering a row. "I wish these people were firing at us instead of stones pelting... So I would have been happier, then I would have been able to do what I want to do," Rawat said. Rawat said "we are a friendly Army" but people should be afraid of us when we are called to make law and order. 


* Bipin Rawat also made a statement on women's combat roles. Rawat said women in combat roles could complain about men peeping into their tents while they were changing their clothes. "She will say somebody is peeping, so we will have to give a sheet around her," Rawat said.


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