Nov 16, 1998
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BOOKS Marching in Step Politics-free military and military-style politics. By Stephen P Cohen MILITARISM IN INDIA
Kundu's interviewees are described only in general terms ("high ranking retired major-general") to protect them. A few will quibble with his methodology but some data is better than none. Even gossip may offer some clues if carefully examined. By and large Kundu relies upon published sources, the interviews provide texture and details that have not appeared before. Kundu also ran into the obtuse bureaucratic establishment which suspected his motives. In fact, he was simply trying to explain what has been an extraordinary non-event that has puzzled scholars and journalists for years. While hundreds of military establishments around the world have seized power or encroached upon civilian authority, the Indian Army remains as quiescent as ever. Even the coup "scares" during the time of Cariappa, Thimayya and Manekshaw turn out, upon closer investigation of the available sources, to be little more than the imaginings of suspicious civilians or rumours spread by jealous military rivals. The book traces this 50-year history of civilian domination. It notes some exceptions, such as the populist Indian National Army led by Subhas Chandra Bose during World War II and the tragic mutiny of some Sikh units after Operation Bluestar. But the case for an intervening army is hard to make. Indeed, the Indian armed forces are aware of the pitfalls of intervention since they have a good example of military rule run wild in Pakistan. This book will be read with interest by Pakistani civilians and soldiers who are trying to reduce the role of their own army in politics. Karamat's ouster was due to many reasons but underneath them all was Nawaz Sharif's desire to put the army in its place. Only time will tell whether he can address Pakistan's deepest problems. If he fails then the armed forces, no matter how they have been constrained, will again intervene. The book is also relevant for contemporary Indian strategic planning. Since the armed forces have so little real authority in India (except perhaps in internal organisational matters) how will their chain of command accommodate nuclear weapons? Few Indian civilian politicians want to see these devices in the hands of the generals, admirals or air marshals, let alone junior officers. Yet, to have a "credible" deterrent they must be deployed and provisions made for their use in case of a decapitating first strike. Samuel Huntington, who studied armies many years ago, once wrote that workers strike, students riot and armies coup. Kundu demonstrates once again why India is the most important exception to this rule. What he leaves unexamined is "civilian militarism", the adoption of military-like values and public style by civilians. India has had its share of this variety of militarism, which perhaps satisfies the craving for discipline and order found in every complex society.
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The Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests of
May and the ouster of the Pakistan army chief, General Jehangir Karamat, give a new
salience to the issues of militarism and civilian control in India examined in this book.
Apurba Kundu, an Indian scholar teaching at a British university, set out to study the
political and decision-making role of the Indian armed forces after Independence. His
approach is novel though necessarily incomplete. Along with the usual published sources
(there is a rich biographical literature), he was able to get 95 retired officers to fill
out a questionnaire about their views on the role of the army and actually interviewed 44
civilians and soldiers with relevant experience. 
