The Prime Minister mixing up military history is between him and his aides. If only they had checked Wikipedia they would have known that (then) Gen. K M Cariappa (not Thimayya) became the first Indian Army chief on January 15, 1949, and that is the reason it is celebrated as Army Day. Cariappa was just 50 (born 1899) when he took over. They made much younger chiefs then.
That history can get you in a twist partly because of rapid developments that were taking place. For clarity: Both the Indian and Pakistani armies were led by British commanders through the
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