In a democracy, the government of the day is well within its right to select an army chief of its choice. The Narendra Modi government has exercised its choice by selecting General Bipin Rawat over the heads of two other senior officers.
Having done so, it should not get into trying to offer explanations for its choice, as it is now doing by citing Gen Rawat's slightly greater experience in counter-insurgency (CI) operations as the clinching factor. In providing such reasons, which anyone with knowledge of the functioning of the army would find difficult to believe, the government opens up its decision to question. And just like the government has exercised its prerogative in its selection of Gen Rawat, it is the prerogative of citizens to question dubious decisions.