Politics and the Indian military: A chronicle
'Preface and Acknowledgements' of the ebook-compilation
https://www.academia.edu/171704340/Politics_and_the_Indian_Military (link for download of the ebook)
This compilation of writings on civil-military relations is to trace the arc of the military’s interface with the change in Indian political culture over the past two decades. The period has seen majoritarian forces come to power and to exercise it liberally. The military has had to adjust to the revision in the nature of political control, since its incidence is more intimate than traditionally.
The commentaries serve as a record of times the military has traversed, along with the nation. In the period, the military immersed itself in its primary and secondary roles at various points. In varying stages of alert and partial deployment along both fronts, and surveying theaterisation, a two-front threat and the culmination of the first iteration of the agnipath scheme, the military remains considerably preoccupied professionally. Alongside, a ‘new India’ is emerging in the image of the right wing, brought about in part with the political appropriation of the military’s showing.
Cultural nationalism’s ascendance in national politics has witnessed a deliberate and strategized advance. It’s interaction with the military has been a measured aspect of this rise. Majoritarian forces have presented themselves as military- and national security-friendly, winning the military’s confidence for most part. The pervasive spread of the Hindutva ideology in the hinterland, whence originate most military members, has many in the uniformed forces persuaded. The veteran community, the media, social media strategists and adherents within the strategic community have projected national security as being in safer hands. The military has – understandably - pragmatically aligned itself with the prevalent political winds.
Right wing politics has an agenda for the nation which requires keeping the military alongside, in order to, where necessary, rely on its authoritative endorsement and selective exhibition of muscularity in defence and foreign policy. The military serves as a compliant site for innovation, such as the agnipath and atmanirbharta schemes to rejuvenate the economy. For its part, the military - always a respected national institution - has acquired a higher profile and visibility. The military’s institutional interests and demands of operational effectiveness met, whether it lives by an apolitical legacy is moot. It can reasonably be said that its core elite has met the unprecedented political reality better than some other equally regarded institutional actors. Retrospect might not judge the institution as a whole as harshly as it might some ambitious opportunists from its ranks.
This book enables a look at the manner interaction between majoritarian politics and the military has played out. In covering a relatively lesser studied field, it joins other works on how the pillars of democracy and state institutions have evolved in this very consequential period of national life. In being a blow-by-blow account of the political-military interface, the book is thus of interest from a contemporary politics perspective, civil-military relations and military sociology. It helps with a better understanding of India of today.
I do not have very many to thank since I undertook this decades-long effort pretty much solo. Even so, I am indebted to those perspicacious few who written in the open domain on such matters, for I have read their work and it has certainly informed my thinking and surely stands reflected here. In particular, I’d like to thank editors who picked up some of the pieces here for their web portals; incidentally, all of whom happen to be women.
And, I must appreciate the diligent vetting of initial drafts of commentaries here by my near and dear ones, more mindful than I of the nature of the times we live in. Their practical good sense allows me in putting this out in one cover to heed an echo from my military days: ‘choose the harder right.’
https://www.academia.edu/171704340/Politics_and_the_Indian_Military?source=swp_share
Contents":
The cultural integration problem in civil-military fusion
Army Sappers are not for a bull dozer raj in Kashmir
Politicisation from below: Hindification and Hinduisation of the army
Toting up legacies of two generals poised to fade away
Service think tanks must not be conduits for political ideology
The new military leadership must emphasise professional distance
Military leadership: Shape of the line-up ahead
Awards: The final nail in the military’s ‘apolitical’ coffin?
In his new book, General Chauhan spills the beans
Why Naya Bharat needs a Jameel Mehmood
A Republic Day revisit to the Army’s leadership Credo
Reminding the Chiefs of Fidelity
Is Chief of Defence Staff as Supremo safe for Democracy?
Zadoora: Missing the Strategic Corporal
Does the Brass still shine?
The army and Hindu Rashtra through a cultural lens
Operational Risks and Societal Militarization: Agnipath’s Entrenched Challenges
What’s holding up the Chief of Defence Staff?
What Will Be General Bipin Rawat’s Place in India’s Military History?
A problem from hell in India’s civil-military relations
Is the military brass transgressing the diplomatic LAC?
Lessons from the commemoration season
Whose army is it anyway?
Right Right Wing Ascendance In India And the Politicisation Of India’s Military
An Army Day resolution for the new chief
Many a Chink in India’s Nuclear Chain of Command
National Defence Academy and Societal Representativeness
Explaining the military’s new found penchant for political partisanship
Military Professionalism and Effectiveness
Cautioning the military against being politically gullible
Rewarding Army Chief for Political Assistance?
The Chief of Defence Staff appointment: An inauspicious beginning
At The Doorstep Of Indian Military Politicization
What would a military of Hindu India look like?
Questioning afresh Indian military’s social representativeness
Agenda for the next defence minister
The Coming Politicisation of the Military
The National Security Agenda for the Next Government
Contextualising the army chief’s news making
Another disastrous idea from the Modi-Doval stable
Opening up the cantonments: Army in the cross hairs of the right
The General is at it again
The Missing Muslim Army Officers
The Chief has spoken; but is the Chief listening?
Dark side of Army’s social media groups
Corrosive Impact of Army’s Commitment in Kashmir
Saluting Bipin Rawat but with a caveat
Yoga as prelude to politicization of the military
Doctrine in Civil-Military Relations
Civil-Military Relations: Questioning the VK Singh Thesis
Civil-Military relations: Under scan
The central debate in India’s civil military relations
The Subtle Threat to National Security
The Threat of Politicisation
The Pathology of Info War
Civil-Military Relations: A Theoretical Perspective
Can the Military be apolitical? Should it?
