The Absent Dialogue MODERN SOUTH ASIA Ashutosh Varshney, Series Editor Pradeep Chhibber, Associate Series Editor Editorial Board Kaushik Basu (Cornell University) Stephen P. Cohen (Brookings Institution) Veena Das (Johns Hopkins University) Patrick Heller (Brown University) Niraja Gopal Jayal (Jawaharlal Nehru University) Ravi Kanbur (Cornell University) Atul Kohli (Princeton University) Pratap Bhanu Mehta (Centre for Policy Research) Farzana Shaikh (Chatham House) The Other One Percent Sanjoy Chakravorty, Devesh Kapur, and Nirvikar Singh Social Justice through Inclusion Francesca R. Jensenius Dispossession without Development Michael Levien The Man Who Remade India Vinay Sitapati Business and Politics in India Edited by Christophe Jaffrelot, Atul Kohli, and Kanta Murali Mobilizing the Marginalized Amit Ahuja Clients and Constituents Jennifer Bussell Gambling with Violence Yelena Biberman The Absent Dialogue Anit Mukherjee The Absent Dialogue Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Military in India ANIT MUKHERJEE 1 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mukherjee, Anit, author. Title: The absent dialogue : politicians, bureaucrats, and the military in India / by Anit Mukherjee. Description: [New York] : [Oxford University Press], [2019] | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “Civilian control over the military is widely hailed as among the biggest successes of India’s democracy. This is a rarity, especially among post-colonial states, and is rightfully celebrated. But has this come at a cost? In The Absent Dialogue, Anit Mukherjee argues that the pattern of civil-military relations in India has hampered its military effectiveness. Indian politicians and bureaucrats have long been content with the formal and ritualistic exercise of civilian control, while the military continues to operate in institutional silos, with little substantive engagement between the two. In making this claim, the book closely examines the variables most closely associated with military effectiveness—weapons procurement, jointness (the ability of separate military services to operate together), officer education, promotion policies, and defense planning. India’s pattern of civil-military relations—best characterized as an absent dialogue— adversely affects each of these processes. Theoretically, the book adopts the ‘unequal dialogue’ framework proposed by Eliot Cohen but also argues that, under some conditions, patterns of civil-military relations maybe more closely resemble an ‘absent dialogue.’ Informed by more than a hundred and fifty interviews and recently available archival material, the book represents a deep dive into understanding the power and the limitations of the Indian military. It sheds new light on India’s military history and is essential reading for understanding contemporary civil-military relations and recurring problems therein. While the book focuses on India, it also highlights the importance of civilian expertise and institutional design in enhancing civilian control and military effectiveness in other democracies”—Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2019017422 | ISBN 9780190905903 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190905927 (epub) | ISBN 9780190905910 (updf) Subjects: LCSH: Civil-military relations—India. | India—History, Military. | India—Politics and government. Classification: LCC JQ220. C58 M86 2019 | DDC 322/.50954—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017422 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America For Shyamoli and Pulak Mukherjee CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xiii About the Companion Website xvii Introduction 1 1. Forging the Sword: Civil– Military Relations and Military Effectiveness 14 2. Convenient Narratives: Historical Evolution of Civil– Military Relations 38 3. The False Promise of Self- Reliance: The Weapons Procurement Process 97 137 4. The Coordinators: India’s Unique Approach to Jointness 5. An “In- House” Affair: India’s System of Professional Military Education 173 191 6. Simply the Best? Officer Promotion and Selection Policies 222 7. The Best of Intentions: Defense Planning in India 8. Tumultuous Times: The Contemporary Discourse on Civil– Military Relations 250 Conclusion 273 Postscript 285 Appendix A: Archival and Primary Sources 289 Appendix B: Selected Government Documents (Arranged Chronologically) 291 Appendix C: Interview List (Alphabetized by First Name) 293 Index 297 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As is not uncommon, this book began much before I began my graduate edu- cation in 2003. Looking back, I think the questions about military effectiveness started during my second stint in Kashmir, when the insurgency was militarily at its most violent phase. As junior officers are wont to do, I remember anguished and angry conversations complaining about the state of our weapons, night vi- sion devices, and radio sets. When queried, most senior officers had one stock answer— the problems we faced were created by the faceless but all- powerful civilians sitting in Delhi. Later, in 2001– 2002 during Operation Parakram, the border mobilization crisis with Pakistan, I was to hear similar refrains. The leit- motif within the Indian military was clear—it was paying the price, often in blood, for weaknesses on the civilian side. Critically examining this narrative formed the core of my doctoral dissertation. Like with all intellectual journeys, my answer, however, took me in a different direction; and I realized that it is a bit more complicated than that. There are constraints on India’s military effec- tiveness to be sure, but these stem from problems on both the civilian and the military sides. From the army to academia has been a long journey, and I owe a debt of thanks to lots of people and institutions. First, the Indian Army, the National Defence Academy, and 19 Armoured Regiment, where I was commissioned, have all played a role in shaping my identity— one that I am very proud of. I still count on my association with all of them and hope they see this book for what it is— a labor of love and not just one of unbridled criticism. Second, upon leaving the army, I was very lucky to find an academic home at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. The university provided a perfect environment for learning and for friendships. I owe a debt of gratitude to my committee and advisers: Walter Andersen, Eliot Cohen, Stephen Cohen, Sunil Khilnani, Thomas Mahnken, and Ashley Tellis. They all played a role in both challenging ix x Acknowledgments and encouraging me, and this book owes a lot to them. SAIS was also great for the friends I made, among the faculty and fellow students; and I would like to especially acknowledge Tuong Do, Jennifer Gulbrandson, Selina Ho, Claudio Lilienfeld, Khalid Nadiri, Oriana Scherr, Samit Shah, Levi Tilleman, Benedikt Wahler, and Jennifer Wethey, among many others. Third, I had many institutional homes during my dissertation— the Brookings Institution (first as a research assistant and later as a non- resident fellow at Brookings India), the RAND Corporation (as a summer associate), and the Foreign Policy Research Institute. From 2010 to 2012, I was also fortunate to work as a research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), in New Delhi. This was a perfect home and a very congenial place (es- pecially the Military Affairs Centre) to engage with and learn from the Indian strategic community, and I am grateful to successive directors— Narendra Sisodia and Arvind Gupta. In 2012, I got an opportunity as a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania. For this I am grateful to Devesh Kapur, who not only taught me how to build a com- munity but also that scholarship should be grounded in humility. I continue to cherish the association and friendship I built up there, and thanks so much to Juliana Di Giustini, Aparna Wilder, Apoova Jadhav, Georgette Rochlin, and Alan Atchison. The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has now been my home since 2013; and I have enjoyed teaching and researching at this institution. I would like to thank Ong Keng Yong, Barry Desker, Rajesh Basrur, Joseph Liow, Ralf Emmers, Tan See Seng, Ang Cheng Guan, Bhubhindar Singh, Sinderpal Singh, Sumitha Narayan Kutty, Evan Resnick, and other members of the staff and students. I would especially like to acknowledge