Assertions made by Army Chief Gen. Rawat at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies seminar would sound outlandish to traditional peaceniks in our country. Unfortunately we have always misinterpreted non-violence when it comes to the crucial theme of national security. It is true that Indian civilization is essentially oriented along peace and non-violence. Such parameters of social behaviour were adopted in times when there was no adversary threatening either our borders or our domestic mainland. Some social adages cannot be credited with universality or perpetuity. Traditional philosophy and wisdom are good at their place and an old civilization like ours is not going to discredit them for all times to come.
Living and pragmatic nations do not go by standard axioms and cliché but by dispassionate assessment of hard ground realities. They have to respond to those realities, which in the parlance of international relations is called realpolitik. China is an ancient civilization. She is less than no ancient country in having forged some valuable philosophical truths. Yet, bidding farewell to her millennia old civilizational traits, China under Chairman Mao took a new birth. From the debris of opiumeaters, rose a nation that is almost ruling the world today. She has amassed great economic power, political power and military power. She has said goodbye to such philosophies of her thinkers as obstructed complete change in the socio-economic order of the nation.
Gen. Rawat has made some frank, objective and realistic assertions which Indian army top brass generally avoids doing. His security perception of the country is clear and very realistic. We have two very hostile neighbours on our right and left flank. They have plans of sandwiching India because they don’t want India to emerge as Asian power. China is checkmating us all along the north and north-eastern border. Pakistan is challenging us all along north and north-western border. The two hostile countries are poised dangerously to disrupt and disintegrate the Indian Union into smaller pieces. 73-day Dokalam standoff may have diluted for the time being but China is seriously planning and acting on a policy of downing India. She is claiming territory in Arunachal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Ladakh strictly adhering to the policy of Salami slicing. The same is true of Pakistan wanted Jammu and Kashmir as part of her Islamic Republic with nearly one half of the State already forcibly captured. Pakistan is waging a civilizational war against us and China is waging a war of rivalry. We need to understand the depth and dimension of these threats. Furthermore, both of the hostile neighbours are trying to make a dent into our civil society to create confusion among the citizens so that they confront and weaken the polity. Incursions into our borders either by stealth or by naked armed intrusion have become the routine and all that we are able to do is to harp on violation of agreements and international laws. Neither of the two is respected either by China or Pakistan. The truth of existence is what Chairman Mao said that power flows through the barrel of the gun.
General Rawat has touched the core of the issues. Possession of nuclear weapon is no deterrent. Pakistan may have signed no first nuclear strike with our country, but who can give us any guarantee that Pakistan will not break the agreement when it suits her. The crux of the speech of the Army Chief is this: Be prepared to defend yourself against the two hostile neighbours, both of them nuclear powers, both having huge war machine in place and both in unholy alliance against us to make us bleed in whatever way these can. India has to defend herself against two menacing neighbours. The way out is make yourself strong, develop; strong war machine, create the sense of self defence and self dependence. Our defence allocations should be radically increased upwards so that we are able to have arms, ammunition, logistics and manpower to combat two vicious neighbouring detractors. We would suggest that national defence fund is created to which all patriotic Indians will have to contribute whatever they can to ensure we are improving and strengthening our defence structure.
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