Monday, 13 July 2020
TP Sreenivasan, Modiplomacy: Through a Shakespearean
Prism, New Delhi: Konark Publishers, 2020; pp. 242; Rs. 800; ISBN
978-8193555446.
The book’s title intrigues. The
author early on in the book explains it, thus, “I began to see the pattern of a
Shakespearean play, consisting of early successes, some complications, a
climax, the emergence of a major event or character which changes the course of
events, leaving the hero to disentangle the situation and emerge victorious as
in this case , or fall victim to forces at work (p. xviii).” At the end of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term, the author – an English postgraduate
– neatly organized his foreign policy into five acts of a play, on which is
based the layout of book.
The book enjoyed a good reception, with diplomats of the author’s generation cheering it not only in advance praise of the book carried on its dust jacket but also in reviews elsewhere. They noted that while the author is appreciative of the prime minister’s foreign policy pitch, it is not over enthusiastic – as have been many similar works that the cottage industry of publications on the net and in print brought out by the self-confessed troll brigade and closet Hindutva keyboard warriors.
As with most Indians and voters, the author believes that Modi is in “the mould of a Shakespearean hero, who overcomes his problems by sheer dint of his wisdom and courage and emerges victorious in the end (p. xviii).” Since the book closes at the start of Modi 2.0, it is not an unreasonable conclusion in light of Modi’s election victory. Even so, the author notices ‘tragic flaws’ (p. xviii) in the first term that potentially bring suspense into how the rest of Modi’s tenure at the foreign policy helm turns out. The book does not explicate what Modi’s Achilles heel is, but inadvertently the author does provide a clue.
To the author, Modi’s air dashing around the globe in his initial years “had the flavour of the ‘Aswasmedha Yagna’ of yore (p. xvii).” While the author credits Modi with “being his own playwright, choreographer, scriptwriter, director and actor (p. 3),” instead, this is indeed how the choreographers of the prime minister’s projections on the national media might have visualized it. The information management exercise that accompanies the prime minister’s activity is by now self-evident. The extensive perception manipulation surrounding Modi, amounting to an intelligence-led information warfare operation, obscures both reality and intention. In effect, be it foreign or security policy, the reins are with the quintessential intelligence man, Ajit Doval, in his capacity as national security adviser, overseeing the domains of foreign, external and internal national security policies. That Doval does not figure in the book at all is the fatal drawback of the book.
The backseat foreign policy has taken in the Hindu nationalist defined national security agenda is the principle facet of the Modi government and has not been captured by the author in his book. The author prefers to skim the surface rather than diving deep into the wellsprings of Modi’s foreign policy. The book therefore covers the usual ground, without breaking the crust for the core. A diplomat of 37 years standing, he expectedly dwells on moves on the foreign policy front. It covers the visits and the about turns, characterized elsewhere more forthrightly by a fellow traveler on the diplomatic circuit as foreign policy ‘pirouettes’ by the Modi regime. The author is rather careful in his analysis, drawing back from calling a spade a spade. This is unexceptionable since there has been a noticeable degree of self-censorship in India’s intellectual circles in the Modi era.
The author fails to record the body blow dealt by the centralizing tendencies in the Modi government to institutional health. The tenure of late Sushma Swaraj during Modi’s first term, who was sick for most part through it, was eminently forgettable. As with the rest of the cabinet system, a one-time prime ministerial contender against Modi, she was reduced to acting in response to tweets by Indians stranded across the globe. The foreign secretary, who presumably had the prime minister’s ear then, is now foreign minister. Usurpation of foreign policy by the prime minister’s office, a significant feature of Modiplomacy, does not figure in the book. An old foreign policy hand could have been expected to throw light on this and lament it, but the author passes up the opportunity in favour of merely an insubstantial recording the happenings in the years.
The book has been put together in part from opinion pieces of the author at various places in print and on the web. It is a catalogue of the times, with little depth. It carries summaries prepared by an intern from the publishing house of analytical pieces published in the mainstream media in the period by several intellectual lights, who also appear to have been too careful to spill the beans on the manner foreign policy was being stewarded. It appears that the book is yet another one to hit the stands in anticipation last elections, in this instance at the publisher’s behest who the author informs was putting out a four-book series on the Modi’s showing in his first term. This is another clue of the manipulation of the discourse, obscuring what should otherwise stare the strategic community in the face.
The author restricts himself to the theatrics onstage, rather than digging for the roots of Modiplomacy. Take for instance Modi’s blitz across some fifty capitals in his initial years. It was to make the new turn to India, of authoritarian majoritarianism, acceptable. With India’s market serving as incentive to buy the silence of other nations, Modi could launch India down a new path. The driver of India’s foreign policy is therefore not out there in the constellation of external factors reviewed by the author but is internal. The myth in international politics is that there is such a thing as international politics. All politics is internally driven. India’s case it is the creation of a Hindu India. Foreign policy in Modi’s first term has been to shroud this in a curtain. He has eminently succeeded in this, with pundits unable and unwilling to call it out.
Wednesday, 8 July 2020
Inside India’s Army
Foreword
I have put together my commentaries and articles that dwell on aspects covered by the field of military sociology. Military sociology is not unfamiliar to India’s national security community, with the famous Krishna Menon-Thimayya episode being a case to point. Yet, it’s a subject with a rather low profile, no doubt because of the Indian military’s quest to stay out of, if not above, politics and at a distance from society, best illustrated by its cantonments. However, its visibility is much less than should be the case in a democratic society.
Taken collectively, the 99 commentaries here argue that this inattention to the military’s place in a democratic society – owing to its willing subordination to the civilian sphere – has led to overlooking perhaps one of the most significant changes within the military – a tendency towards the right wing ideology that has over the past three decades permeated society. This is understandable, since with society taking a marked turn to the Right, it is not unlikely that a democratic military can but be a step behind.
Even so, this is an anti-democratic development with constitutional implications. We have witnessed over the past six years of the right wing regime’s sway over power, a dramatic fall of democratic and state institutions. The military has proven an exception in that it is only – at the time of writing – in the process of succumbing. These articles, written over the past fifteen years, trace the manner the military has been suborned by the right wing. The culmination has been over the last year, evidenced in its marginalization as merely a militant killing machine in Kashmir and but a border guarding force in Ladakh.
The articles in the main discuss civil-military relations, the troubling aspect of which is in the military susceptible to subscribing to the ‘nationalist’ ideology of those in power. The major take-away is that this puts it at odds with the democratic system of alternation in power. This was mildly visible in the earlier period of the United Progressive Alliance in which the military was forever foot-dragging, be it in allowing peace initiatives in Kashmir to culminate or over demilitarizing Siachen.
Another major theme is the lack of representativeness of the military in that the articles capture the phenomenon of the military keeping India’s largest minority out. This has to be boldly said up front since playing footsie with the compelling statistics that underlie this claim is no longer possible. In short, with a dramatic right wing turn combined with the Muslim minority missing from its ranks, the military is only secular in name. In short, we are almost there, where the Hindutva ideologues, under-gridding the strategic establishment of this regime, want India to be.
On this count, this book is important. The compilation of articles that have appeared at various web-portals when put together between two covers, as here, make clear that the penultimate bastion of the state – the judiciary being the last (but one which has already bitten the dust) - is falling. As to whether the situation is retrievable, I leave it for readers in their capacity as voters to answer. The book compilation is an effort towards reversing the trend towards a Hindu army of a Hindu India.
Contents
1. Right
Wing Ascendance In India And The Politicisation Of India’s Military
2.
Army’s
Robustness in Aid of Civil Authority Lessons from the Gujarat Carnage
3. Corrosive
Impact of Army’s Commitment in Kashmir
4. Dilating
on a ‘Half-front War’
5. The
Missing Muslim Army Officers
6.
Whose
army is it anyway?
7. Questioning
afresh Indian military’s social representativeness
8. An
Army Day resolution for the new chief
9.
The
land warfare doctrine: The army's or that of its Chief?
10.
The
army's two impulses in Kashmir: Human rights Doctrine and departures
11.
Human
Rights: All so unfortunately ho-hum
12.
A
police wallah as proto Chief of Defence Staff
13.
Spiking
possibilities: What is the army chief up to?
14.
Contextualising
the army chief’s news making
15.
Selectivity
in military justice
16.
Command
responsibility in relation to good faith
17.
Opening
up the cantonments: Army in the cross hairs of the right
18.
The
army chief as regime spokeman?
19.
The
Hindutva project and India's military
20.
Budget
let down further strains army-government relations
21.
A
revolt of the generals?
22.
A
political army or an apolitical one?
23.
Dissension
in the top brass?
24.
The
General is at it again
25. Debating
the ‘harder military approach’
26. An Army to
fear: The Army’s future?
27. The Gogoi
award puts General Rawat on test
28. To the
army: Any gentlemen left please?
29. Dark side
of Army’s social media groups
30. Internal
security duties in their impact on the army
31. Saluting
Bipin Rawat but with a caveat
32. The army
officer corps: Missing Muslims
33. Air Chief
Marshal Arup Raha Ventures Further Than he Should
34. Yoga as
prelude to politicization of the military
35. Look who’s
doing yoga now
36. Handwara:
Going Beyond SOPs
37. What a short,
swift war means for the Infantry
38. The
military musical chairs
39. Challenges
of the brass in a political minefield
40. Doctrine in
Civil-Military Relations
41. Where
veterans refuse to give up
42. Is the army
court’s verdict on the Machhil killings enough?
43. Kashmir:
Hooda walks the talk
44. Kashmir :
Politicisation of security and its consequences
45. Modi and
the Military
46. Wearing
Religion on their Uniform Sleeves
47. The Army:
Missing Muslim India
48. Why are
Muslims Missing From Army?
49. Fixing
Responsibility CI Decisions and Consequences
50. AFSPA: A
Question of Justice
51. Do We Need
a Chief Warlord?
52. The
Sub-Unit Cries for Army Attention
53. Civil-Military
Relations: Questioning the VK Singh Thesis
54. Readings
for Officers
55. A General’s
Unforgettable Legacy
56. Army
‘Transformation’: A ‘Radical’ One?
57. The Third
Front: Military Ethics
58. Civil-Military
Relations: Under Scan
59. The Army’s
Decade in Review
60. The Central
Debate in India’s Civil Military Relations
61. Politicisation:
In the Context of the Indian Military
62. The Coming
Threat of Politicisation
63. India’s
Brass: What the Controversy Misses
64. The
Military at the High Table?
65. Modi and
the Military: Not Quite an Innocent
66. The LoC
Incident Calls for Self-Regulation by the Army
67. Countering
Insurgency and Sexual Violence
68. Dear
General, Please Stay Out of Politics
69. Interrogating
Security Expansionism in India
70. The Indian
Army: Organizational Changes in the Offing
71. An Issue in
Civil-Military Relations
72. Soldiers,
not servants
73. Expanding
too fast?
74. Uncivil war
in South Block
75. An age-old
lesson
76. The ‘Age’
of misjudgement
77. Defence
reforms: The next phase
78. The Army’s
right to its opinion
79. Initiatives
to Transform the Army Officer Corps
80. The New
Chief and Transformation
81. The
Military in Kashmir The Debate Between the Generals
82. An
Unacknowledged Vested Interest in a
83.
The
Army’s Subculture in the Coming Decade
84. The
government versus the military
85. Rethinking
Civilian Control
86. How deep is
the rot?
87. The Indian
Army: crisis within
88. Politicisation
and the Indian military
89. Hail to the
new chief
90. Security
agenda: 2006 and beyond
91. Menu for
the New Chief
92. Chief of
Defense : Implications
93. Elevate
Human Rights As the Core Organising
94.
Extract
from India’s Doctrine Puzzle: The Organisational Factor
95.
Extract from India’s Doctrine Puzzle: Service
Subcultures
96.
Extract from article: ‘Borders and other such
lines’, Journal of Peace Studies
97.
Review:
Vivek Chadha, Indian Army’s Approach to Counter Insurgency Operations: A
Perspective on Human Rights, Strategic Analysis, 35:3 May 2011
98.
Review: K.S. Sheoran, Human Rights and Armed
Forces in Low Intensity Conflict
99. Countering Insurgency In J&K: Debates in The
Indian Army
Saturday, 4 July 2020
https://www.academia.edu/43510813/The_Indian_Muslim_Security_Predicament
21. Dark side of Army’s
social media groups
32. Deconstructing Mr. Modi’s speech
33. Strategy for the Modi
era
The
Indian Muslim
Security
Predicament
For
a world safe for believers
Foreword
I
dedicate this book to believers in Islam. I write of their security predicament
in India. I make the case that they have been short-changed by this secular,
democratic republic. And this is not only on the time of the current regime in
power. It dates back at least thirty years when a virus worse than corona
inserted itself into the body politic of this nation. Today, the regime in
power is a product and at a grave national security cost.
The
regime has taken power on the back of a Big Lie. It has manufactured the
perception of an internal security threat by projecting the largest minority
anywhere in the world as one. It has ridden the coat tails of the Islamophobia
prevalent abroad. It has presented the Indian Muslim as the Other to build up
its vote bank based on Hindus. It has subverted national institutions; thus,
even when it was not in power, it was in a position to paralyse the government
from within. Now that it in power it is in a position to saffronise at will.
This explains the dedication in that saffronsisation is a threat to the safety
and well being of India’s Muslims.
I
have followed the left-liberal thesis on the right wing ascendance in India. I
have seen at first hand the influence of the right wing ideology in the
military and within the strategic community. I have recorded this in my
writings elsewhere. Here I have put together some of the writings that directly
deal with the Indian Muslim security predicament. Since I have covered Kashmir
in another book, I have not included the travails of Kashmiris here.
In
the process of putting this compilation of writings that have appeared at
various websites, I have concluded that it is possible to arrive at a security
perspective unique for a minority. While usually national security is taken as
indivisible, it is not so in reality. If the state is appropriated by parochial
interests, such as of the right wing in India’s case, then the minority at the
receiving end has to consider its own security by its own lights.
From
a reading of this book, it is possible to conceptualise, that where the state
is captured by particularist interests, its usage of instruments at its command
constitutes a threat to the minority. This is an important finding from a
reading of this book, making the compilation a significant one not only for
India’s Muslims, but for the national security establishment, strategic
community and the attentive public.
I
thank the publications in which these 76 articles and commentaries have
appeared (milligazette.in; thecitizen.in; ipcs.org; countercurrents.org; kashmirtimes.com;
indiatogether.org etc). The first one in the compilation did not find any
publisher. I trust readers will find the compilation that covers the last
fifteen years offering a different, if not a unique, perspective.
I
hope it is read also by Hindu friends so that they can see for themselves the
premier internal security threat to India stems from the right wing regime’s
subversion of democracy and by its supportive formations that want to use their
sway in power to fashion a Hindu India. With the hope they bestir to reclaim
the republic.
The
book is my modest contribution to my community and to my nation of which my
community is part. My gratitude to my wider family that inspired the book.
Contents
1.
Terror Redux : A Minority Perspective
2.
The Fiction Of ‘Minority Terror’
3.
The Missing Muslim Army Officers
4. The Army: Missing Muslim India
5.
Nailing the lies in name of national security
6.
Consequences
for India’s minority of the gathering war clouds after Pulwama
7.
George Fernandes keeps his date with Gujarat carnage
martyrs
8.
The minority security problematic
9.
Finally, the IS bogey laid to rest
10. PM Modi's version of Rajdharma
11. The army’s robustness in aid to civil authority: Lessons from the Gujarat
Carnage
12. On the
Strongman myth
13. A national security mess
14. Noting the
spokesperson-minister’s remarks
15.
An officer and gentleman: Worthy of a Muslim's
ambition
16. The 'incident':
Nothing but political
17. Is there an
Indian 'deep state'?
18.
The dissident
terror narrative
20. Terror: More serious than most know
21. Dark side of Army’s
social media groups
22.
The army
officer corps: Missing Muslims
23. A problem wider than Kashmir
24.
After left-liberals, Muslim are next
25. The Paris attacks and India’s Muslims
26.
Whither
Modi, and, at one remove, India?
27. Why Ramchandra Guha
speaks too soon
28.
A Viewpoint: Home Minister Brings ‘Saffron Terror’
Back on the Agenda
29. Kashmir and India’s Muslims
30. How deep does our prejudice run?
31. Contesting the Mushrif thesis
32. Deconstructing Mr. Modi’s speech
33. Strategy for the Modi
era
34. What is a moderate Indian Muslim to do?
@Chetan_Bhagat
35. Mr. Modi's next stunt
36. Messiah Modi: What to make of him?
37. The Fear That
Does Not Speak Its Name
38. Majoritarian
terrorism: The resounding silence
39. Normalisation
of the terror narrative: The response
40.
The relevance of Vanzara's letter
41.
A good school for Maqbool
42.
The importance of being Asif Ibrahim
43.
A secure minority, for a secure nation
44.
Shall we imprison everyone?
45.
An indirect response to terror
46.
How deep is the rot?
47.
In Muslim India, an internal battle
48.
Internal security agenda for the new year
49.
Muslim headcount: A useful controversy
50.
Life Under Modi
51.
Strategising for the Modi Era
52.
The Next Polls and Beyond
53.
Muslim Absence from the Strategic Space
54.
Doing More with the Military
55.
Elections 2014: The Worst Case Scenario
56.
What if Modi Makes it to Race Course Road
57.
Afzal Guru: The Man Who Knew Too Much
58.
Taking on Mr. Modi’s Chief Cheerleader: Chetan
Bhagat
59.
The Unfolding Gameplan of Majoritarian Extremists
60.
More than just a visit
61.
Not So Easy, Mr. Modi
62.
Chetan Bhagat: Caught at it Again
63.
Catching up with the SIT Chief
64.
Mr. Bhagat: Please Get Off Our Backs, Will You!
65.
A Reply for Mr. Narendra Modi
66.
An Open Reply to Modi’s Open Letter
67.
Blasting the Terror Narrative
68.
The Gujarat Revelations
69.
Blast from the Past - The Varanasi Explosion
70.
Muslim India: A Security Perspective
71.
The Counter Narrative on Terror
72.
Understanding Minority-Perpetrated Terrorism
73.
Haldighati II: Implications for Internal Security
74.
Widening the Discourse on Terror
75.
Muslim India as ‘Threat’
76.
Terrorism’ and Intellectual Responsibility
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)