16 JOINT DOCTRINE OF INDIAN ARMED FORCES AND ITS HINDUTVA INTERLACE (An Analysis of Hindutva-inspired Notions and Strategies of the JDIAF and Repercussions for Regional Security) Shakaib Rafique* Abstract Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces, unveiled in 2017, is the all-encompassing strategic design that outlines the core philosophy, concepts, principles, and ideals that are being pursued by the Indian Armed Forces for the attainment of India’s strategic objectives. This paper employs a constructivist theoretical approach to assess the Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces’ connection with Hindutva beliefs and ideals as well as its reflection of India’s incumbent government’s strategic objectives of Hindu revivalism and expansionist ambitions, while formally shedding off its decades-old garb of so-called secularism. Through the analysis of Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces’ core ideas and concepts, this paper examines the Indian Armed Forces’ institutional choice of this doctrine to pursue Hindutva ideals coupled with its likely implications in terms of regional instability and insecurity. Keywords: Communalism, Credible Deterrence, Hindutva, False Flag Operations, Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces. Introduction nder the leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has undergone U an unprecedented transformation. While India’s decades-old façade of secularism has been demolished, the country is set on becoming a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in its true essence.1 Hindu communalism has been a legacy of both the Indian National Congress (INC)2 and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) for long. The manner in which it has been actively pursued by the latter through venomous intrusion into every state organ of India including inter alia, judiciary3 and armed forces4, is unprecedented in character.5 The influence of Hindutva6 and communal tendencies in the Indian Armed Forces is not a new phenomenon.7 However, recently, these aspects have taken a more institutional shape. The most recent attempt, in this regard, has been the Joint Doctrine of the Indian Armed Forces (JDIAF) – 2017. *Shakaib Rafique is a Pakistani Diplomat and a PhD Scholar at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, Romania. Margalla Papers-2020 (Issue-II) [16-28] Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces and Its Hindutva Interlace 17 This paper, therefore, assesses various elements of JDIAF by tracing their linkages with different Hindutva ideational inspirations. Through a constructivist approach, the paper evaluates how the Hindutva-inspired ideals, perceptions, and beliefs guide JDIAF and the manner in which this doctrine epitomizes India’s aggressive posturing towards the region and beyond, based on the social construction of its adversaries as well as Hindutva-inspired parameters of exclusion, self-victimization, and external scapegoating. Constructivist Approach towards the Understanding of Army Doctrine Before delving deeper into JDIAF, it would be useful to assess ‘Army Doctrine’ per se. In the words of John Spencer, an Army Doctrine is intended to connote the “fundamental principles by which military forces or elements, thereof, guide their actions in support of national objectives.”8 He adds that an Army Doctrine represents “a body of thought on how Armed Forces intend to operate as part of a joint force and a statement of how the Army intends to fight.”9 Normally, for the Armed Forces being hidebound bureaucratic organizations, changing a Military or Army Doctrine is not a commonplace phenomenon.10 It becomes, especially, uncharacteristic when an Army Doctrine gets changed during peacetime.11 An Army Doctrine acts as a response to national strategy. Accordingly, when the strategic objectives of a country change, the Army Doctrine also changes.12 It is normally argued that a doctrinal change occurs when it is determined that military power as a means for a specific strategy must reorient itself to achieve the new objectives. 13 An Army Doctrine, therefore, represents “an institutional choice between competitive ideas.”14 The important motivating factors for an Army Doctrine are the ideals, beliefs, and perceptions shaping a country’s strategic objectives. Therefore, for comprehending the logic behind the development or change of an Army Doctrine, it is pivotal to comprehend the ideas and beliefs at the political level that lead to such change or development. As an Army Doctrine aims to create peculiar character traits in the members of a military organization,15 understanding its constitutive political ideals and beliefs becomes crucial. In essence, every army doctrine constructs and conceptualizes its adversaries (others) or allies (a manifestation of self) based on its embedded political views, beliefs, and ideals. It is owing to the above aspects that the constructivist theoretical approach appears most suitable for deciphering an Army Doctrine. This approach concerns itself with the meanings given to actions by the actors as well as the pattern and framework of their mutual interaction.16 As per constructivists, ideational factors influence the perceptions of policymakers.17 By interpreting these ideals and belief-system, one can comprehend the logic under which an Army Doctrine operates and the strategic objectives it strives to achieve. In the following lines, the same approach is applied to decode the ideological orientation of JDIAF. While doing so, the main question, this Margalla Papers-2020 (Issue-II) [16-28] 18 Shakaib Rafique paper addresses, remains how Hindutva ideology and ideals are embedded in the JDIAF and what possible implications could this have for regional security. Theorizing the Concept of Hindutva At this stage, it is also important to theorize the concept of Hindutva itself. Hindutva is a political project whose proponents aim at turning India into a Hindu nation without any ethical considerations.18 Hindutva is employed as a synonym to cultural nationalism in India19 and heavily influenced by the ideology of primordialism, Nazism, Fascism, and exclusive ethnic nationalism.20 Protagonists of Hindutva employ it as the foundation of Hindu identity21 and base it on the notions of political sociology coupled with xenophobic racism.22 Hindutva is closely associated with the notion of populism and ontological insecurity. Populism, viewed as a binary doctrine,23 constructs a certain segment of a larger community as the people who constitute the only legitimate totality24 in that community. As for ontological insecurity, it emerges when the identity of those ‘pure people’ is under question.25 For removing this insecurity, the tendency is to securitize these people by creating a stable identity.26 For Hindutva, the Hindu nation forms the ‘pure people’, who have the legitimate right to occupy India. For Hindutva-inspired Indian foreign and security policies under Modi government, Hinduism becomes coextensive with India’s territory27 and for responding to the external threats; uniform Hindu identity is accordingly considered to be the panacea.28 As Hindutva considers Hindu identity to be the only possible stable identity for addressing India’s ontological insecurity, this feature has penetrated India’s foreign and security policies and doctrines, such as JDIAF. Conceptualizing the Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces (JDIAF) JDIAF traces its conceptual origin from the US Doctrine of Armed Forces.29 It serves as the bedrock for synergized functioning of the three services of Indian Armed Forces,30 and is based on a continental view of threats approach,31 addressing a full spectrum of military conflict situation ranging from nuclear to counterinsurgency dynamics of possible conflictual situations.32 Under its continental view of threat approach,33 JDIAF essentially focuses on China and Pakistan.34 JDIAF also graduates from defensive to offensive approach and presumes India’s greater global role. Accordingly, JDIAF envisions an expeditionary overseas operational approach35 for the Indian Armed Forces. Indian analysts argue that through the above-mentioned doctrine, the conflicts would be determined through coercive diplomacy as well as punitive disruption and destruction.36 This provides further credence to claims of India’s expansionary ambitions. JDIAF relies on different Hindutva-inspired ideological principles for identifying the national values of India. This contradicts India’s secular sloganeering and nullifies its claims of maintaining apolitical armed forces.37 JDIAF envisions a Margalla Papers-2020 (Issue-II) [16-28] Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces and Its Hindutva Interlace 19 conducive external security environment38 and aims at safeguarding India’s existing and emerging strategic, political, economic, and military goals 39 in consonance with the country’s national aim, enunciated as one of India’s key national interests.40 This circuitous formulation implies active intervention abroad by the Indian Armed Forces in order to fulfill India’s global ambitions. JDIAF has also expanded the threshold of Indian national security objectives by openly vouching for the militarization of space and intensifying the nuclear arms race in the region by graduating from credible minimum deterrence to credible deterrence.41 It has indicated that in the future, India is likely to fulfill its global ambitions through a coercive military instrument.42 Hindutva Roots of JDIAF JDIAF is a poorly worded document, based on certain plagiarized notions and concepts.43 In order to Indianize JDIAF, its authors have relied