Indian army is amazingly weak as pointed out by the Parliamentary committee. India has a triple task to defend its two frontiers of China and Pakistan and the oceanfront. Indian army is not prepared to fight the war on these fronts. Worst is the status of preparedness of Indian army in terms of resources and military equipment. India, as pointed out in the Parliamentary committee, has antiquated weaponry that is useless in case of actual war. Indian army men are taxed too much by the cross firing that the Hindutva Government at the center escalates to get electoral benefits. On the diplomatic front, the neighboring countries have slipped away from the grip of India’s Hindutva regime: Nepal is now ruled by anti-Hindutva political allies and Maldives declined to accept Indian intervention.

On the other hand, Indian army is manned by the upper caste officials who never go to fight the actual battles and only a few castes are represented in the army, making Indian army underrepresented at the levels it matters. Traditionally, the so-called lower castes have been martial races and they fought in many battles, but slowly, the military is made upper caste dominant organ and this is where the defense fault line lies. India needs affirmative action in the military and all the castes must be represented in the Indian army if India is to become a strong military force.

India’s upper castes are so busy keeping their hold over the masses that India’s larger interests are jeopardized and India is increasingly becoming a vassal state and banana republic due to this upper caste betrayal of India. The ideology of the upper castes cannot win any long-term allies for India because the ideology is hegemonic without having real power to change the course of international diplomacy. The way upper castes in India are siding with alt-right and neo-nazis, the country is doomed. The only way to make India strong and great is to make it representative for all the sections in all the institutions, but the RSS/BJP is already attacking vitals of India’s strength and power: the inclusive policies of reservation and laws that prevent atrocities!

Author -Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist

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