Quality of India’s military leadership under test. Moral fibre can overcome political bias
The recent news of the Indian Ministry of Defence examining the selection criteria to the higher echelons of the military hierarchy took me back to what I wrote in 2017 – “India’s march to modernity will necessarily involve dismantling entrenched feudalism that privileges birth and seniority over merit. The selection of the senior military leadership should not remain tethered to a feudal framework that underlies existing practices. Modern India must embrace merit over everything else. No efforts should be spared in improving the quality of military leadership, on which, hangs the effectiveness of India’s military power.” Nearly four years later, contrary to reactions on the news, I don’t think I need to change my stand. Here’s why.
The current debate is in the context of the Narendra Modi government exercising its political judgement to select Army, Navy and Air Force Chiefs by disregarding seniority. It is framed as a binary choice between merit and seniority. As I have written earlier, the prime argument asserted to privilege seniority over merit has hinged on the necessity to maintain the Armed Forces as an apolitical institution, a contention that rests on the notion that it would otherwise open up the possibility of political favouritism, with military leaders attempting to cosy up to politicians, thus politicising the military as an institution. This is true and a perennial danger in a democracy.