Daily Times

What is Indian Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat’s concept of ‘Two & A Half Front War’? Are Indian Armed Forces in a position to dominate the Red Dragon? If Cold Start Doctrine is for Pakistan, what is India’s strategy for China? If Indian Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) enter Pakistan and its Mountain Strike Corps parachute into China, would they survive and come home in one piece? Why does India consider China and Pakistan to be the likes of Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Bangladesh? Gen Rawat’s statement on one hand mirrors Indian Army’s inter-services rift for a dominating role while on the other hand it echoes the domination-induced frustration prevailing in Indian Army.

According to ‘The Hindu’, the Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat threatened China, Pakistan and India’s internal armed secessionist and separatist movements.

He adamantly asserted that Indian Military Forces — Indian Army in particular is capable of fighting Pakistan, China and the domestic insurgents and more specifically Maoist secessionists. While apart from Rawat’s rhetoric — the ground reality is if not utterly but significantly different. In the real world India is increasingly leaning towards the West and it would be right to say that now it has employed band-wagoning instead of hedging. By band-wagoning with the West and more precisely with the US the first thing that India has compromised is its hopes of becoming a great power. This assertion is in-line with John Mearsheimer’s arguments which he made in his book ‘The Tragedy of Great Power Politics’ (2001).

Interestingly, Gen. Bipin Rawat’s statement is uproarious since it resembles the famous CBS TV series ‘Two And A Half Men’ (2003-2015). The TV series was hilarious yet if we compare these two entities then the CBS TV’s ‘half man’ was the real trouble maker or perhaps the trickiest one. Now if one applies this analogy on Rawat’s statement then one would realise that the ‘half front’ i.e. India’s internal secessionist and separatist organisations and movements are the real threat and danger for India’s survival. The Naxalite Movement is raging on in India’s Bengal since May 1967 and now it has spread to various parts of India. The Maoist-Marxist workers-turned freedom fighters emerged from a little village of Bengal’s Darjeeling District named as Naxalbari and now they are a well-disciplined and an armed insurgency — aiming to secede from the Republic of India. Though, Modi-Government tried to calm them down but Naxalites seem adamant in their cause.

Indian Military may think that it can dominate Pakistan and China at the same time but it would be a miracle if it manages to contain the ‘half front’

It would be silly of Gen. Rawat to think that Sikhs of India have forgotten what Indian Army did to them during Operation Blue Star of June 1984. The Babbar Khalsa International and the Khalistan Movement might be suppressed up to some extent by the use of brute force by Indian Army but the dilapidated situation of Sikhs in India kept the frustration at the maximum level. Consequently, it would not be a surprise that Sikhs might seek help from Pakistan and China to get independence from India. Similarly, Indian Army is using fear to control Kashmiri Muslims and has resorted to extreme violence to suppress the oppressed innocent Kashmiri voice. Indian Army has committed innumerable atrocities against non-combatants and is now encouraging war crimes as an instrument of policy.

Indian Military may think that it can dominate Pakistan and China at the same time but it would be a miracle if it manages to  contain the ‘half front’. India must not be fearful of China or Pakistan, but it must start fearing the growing internal extremism and Saffron Terrorism. Gen. Bipin Rawat has to understand that the real danger for Indian democracy, pluralism and secularism is Hindu extremist organisations. Rashtriya Swayamsavek Sangh (RSS) has faked and faded Ghandi’s pacifism. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Amit Shah made a recent statement that ‘Gandhi was a baniya’ tells everything about the right-wing mentality.

The Foreign Policy magazine recently reported that ‘Pakistan is winning its war against terrorism’ and conceivably Indian Army and security establishments find it hard to digest the achievements of Pakistan. Apart from that, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been the real bone of contention that is infuriating India. Indian Army Chief has declared CPEC as a threat to the national security of India. India has been completely failed in destabilising Pakistan. Now, it is using Afghanistan and Iran against Pakistan but New Delhi will never achieve its objectives. Ostensibly, Gen. Bipin Rawat is trying to overcome the fear in the hearts and minds of Indians.

It is quite ironical  that a huge Indian population is living below the poverty line and vast majority is unable to use toilet. In such a country where women are being gang-raped on a regular basis and then killed to silence their voices, its Army Chief is dreaming to dominate its neighbours. How would Gen. Bipin Rawat attack its neighbours when its soldiers are complaining about sub-standard food and living conditions? Gen. Bipin’s Army could not save Kerala University’s Prof K K Kulburghi who spoke the truth and was assassinated by Hindu extremists and terrorists. In such miserable conditions, if Gen. Bipin Rawat is still confident to fight against Pakistan and China, then he must keep one thing in his mind that this time he might lose New Delhi.

The writer can be reached on mmab11@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, November 5^th 2017.