Learn From The Past, Not Recreate It

I was a young boy of about six years, a refugee from undivided Punjab, who had been displaced by the Partition of India, when India shed its colonial past and became Independent on August 15 1947. Luckily, our family had managed to come across without any casualties, despite the widespread rioting, murders and arson, which were at their peak.

Notwithstanding having been uprooted from our hearth and home, the euphoria and nationalism were at their peak. Although to a six-year-old boy, the full meaning of Independence was limited to the slogans and jingles one used to hear from our compatriots who were in the forefront of the freedom struggle.

This euphoria lasted during the early decades of Independence. One looked forward to the Independence Day Speech by the Prime Minister from the historic and iconic ramparts of the Red Fort.

One reason was that there was anticipation that the Prime Minister would share a few nuggets of information, which were being discussed in the public domain and would impact on either all citizens of the nation or certain segments, like the armed forces or the youth, or the corporates and so on.

However, as it happens in our politically highly charged polity, it became the forum for self-praise on the one hand and appeals for electing them/their parties, on the other.

Despite these lacunae, landmarks like the Independence Day, and a few others (Republic Day, Army Day, Vijay Diwas, Gandhi Jayanti and so on) do make one pause and think on issues of national importance. These include those where the government of the day is wavering, or imposing its own ideological thinking, despite it being wrapped in putative dogmas and invalid arguments.

In this regard, this year’s Independence Day and the speech by the Prime Minister is special, as this will be the last speech of Prime Minister Modi before the next General Elections, scheduled in about eight months or so. Consequently, the better part of his speech is likely to inevitably be on the next General Elections. That has been the trend in the past.

However, since a No-Confidence Motion has been debated in Parliament only a few days back (which he won with aplomb and a big majority) and wherein he has already spoken at length on the achievements of his government, one wonders whether the focus of his Independence Day speech will be different.

The 76th Independence Day also deserves to focus on a few burning issues of the day. There are many important issues that need to be highlighted but perhaps the security and the sovereignty of the nation tops the list.

I propose to draw the attention of the polity on this aspect, as it appears to my professional sense that it is being neglected. I propose to do so holistically and suggest changes that need action and implementation, instead of mere pronouncements and promises, however bombastic they may sound.

There are multifarious threats or challenges facing both the nation and the Indian Army and many are congruent, because the Army continues to be the last bastion of security of the nation.

The challenges are both military and non-military, as well as external and internal. As the ultimate instrument, which the nation can employ when others have not succeeded or the task is beyond their resources, capacity or expertise, the army, and at times, along with the other two services, is called upon to successfully tackle it.

Thus, there is a heavy responsibility which the nation bestows on its military. Since the Army is the biggest of the three services, its involvement, both in frequency and content, is always much more. This is a historical fact and I do not foresee any dilution in the nation’s dependency on the army to tackle difficult and varied situations that may affect the security of the nation or its citizens.

We have already entered an era where all security issues are inter-connected. This includes both internal and external challenges. Externally, national security has become highly dependent on the state of regional security, which encompasses the much larger Southern Asian Region and parts of the Western Pacific and not merely South Asia.

At times, this dependency extends even to international security. Consequently, we must not think about challenges in relation to only our country or our Army.

This also implies that linear thinking and rigid military force structures should be abandoned and traditional concepts of deterrence and defence need to be supplemented by new doctrines, which may include prevention, pre-emption, and a proactive stance.

Today, there is no clear separation of peace and war, as both seem to have merged. In the present context of networks and instant communications, the need is for reconfigured military forces, with a broad range of skills for employment across the spectrum of conflict.

Warfare is also changing, with a transmutation of conflicts underway. As examples: nuclear war fighting has given way to nuclear deterrence; protracted regional conventional wars have made a comeback, as exemplified by the current conflict/war/special operation in Ukraine; and proxy wars continue.

These tend to keep the adversary politically destabilised and economically burdened. Increasingly, the aim of using force is unlikely to be annihilation or attrition, but calibrated elimination of the enemy’s resistance by the careful and proportionate use of counter-violence and Special Forces Operations.

Technology and the changing face of war and conflicts also directly impact on challenges, as they are pointers to restructuring and transformation needed for the defence forces of all countries. In this respect, the Indian Army, as structured today, while a well-disciplined, well-trained and well-led force needs to change and transform rapidly, both structurally, doctrinally and in conceptual terms.

For this, both the government as well as the army have to abandon their self-proclaimed thinking and articulations of being the best, if not the ultimate, which is both egoistic and blind. They may be good for motivation and morale, but when push comes to shove, they may both be found wanting.

We are of course a regional power, one of the few in the world, but have remained in the slot for decades. All the sinews of the nation, not only the armed forces, must endeavour to move up the ladder and strive to become a Great Power.

We are endowed with abundant natural resources, have the right mix of demographic resources. We have the brains and abilities to compete and in fact beat most other countries and we have demonstrated these in all the top countries of the world. Undoubtedly, we can genuinely boast of a culturally rich past that no other country in the world can match.

Yet, our progress has been slow and in fits and starts. Reasons are many, but the foremost are our deteriorating political system, widespread corruption, paucity of job-creation, ‘chalta hai’ attitude, the continued prevalence of the system of Reservation, and sundry other issues.

On this important day, I do want to bring out the sorry state of neglect of the armed forces in general and the army in particular, if only to bring out the government and the polity from their slumber.

The four most important and obvious issues are: the government’s inability to formulate and disseminate a National Security Strategy, resulting in the military making operational plans in a vacuum; no coherent orders/instructions on defending the Northern Borders; despite the vast increase in the number of armed police forces, their reluctance and/or inability to tackle internal challenges, resulting in over-burdening the army; and not only believing the canard that no wars are likely to be fought in future, spread by a senior government functionary, but spreading it in the public domain!

Other important factors encompass starving the Armed Forces, particularly the Army, of legitimate funds for modernisation, on the specious grounds that funds are needed by other more deserving entities. They thrust ill-conceived notions/plans, like the Agniveers, after stopping recruitment for two years plus, resulting in manpower voids of nearly two lakhs.

Ill-conceived plans include breaking up competently-run cantonments; gross interference in the internal functioning of the army, including attempts at abolishing centuries-old institutions and norms, which are motivating functions for individual bravery and high morale and collective cohesion and battle-winning, discipline and professional competence.

Add to that, foisting a generalist bureaucracy between the national executive and the armed forces; lack of understanding about civil-military relations, resulting in not fully appreciating the ethos and culture of the military by the elected hierarchy of the country; and not the least politicisation of the Armed Forces.

All these and more are recipes for weakening and diluting the war-fighting capabilities and abilities of the armed forces.

My final thought on this 76th anniversary of our Independence Day is that while optics, image-building and laying down ‘red carpets’ have their due place, the best and most favourable outcomes are achieved by learning from the past and not by ignoring or re-creating it.

I conclude by conveying my good wishes to all on the 76th Independence Day.

Jai Hind.

Lt General Vijay Oberoi is a former Vice Chief of Army Staff and the Former Founder Director of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), and now its Director General Emeritus. Views expressed are the writer’s own.