At the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, India’s chief of defense staff, Anil Chauhan, made comments that have drawn rebuke within segments of the Indian media. Much of the criticism against Chauhan focused on his admission that India lost some aircraft in its military clash with Pakistan last month, keeping the exact number vague. Some commentators argued that he should not have made this admission on foreign soil.

But few, if any, critics have highlighted a potentially more troubling issue: Why did Chauhan have to make this admission when Indian civilian authorities, especially Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, have not commented on the efficacy (or lack thereof) of India’s military operations?

At the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, India’s chief of defense staff, Anil Chauhan, made comments that have drawn rebuke within segments of the Indian media. Much of the criticism against Chauhan focused on his admission that India lost some aircraft in its military clash with Pakistan last month, keeping the exact number vague. Some commentators argued that he should not have made this admission on foreign soil.

But few, if any, critics have highlighted a potentially more troubling issue: Why did Chauhan have to make this admission when Indian civilian authorities, especially Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, have not commented on the efficacy (or lack thereof) of India’s military operations?

Civilian authorities in India have maintained a deafening silence about the loss of military aircraft in the recent skirmish, instead leaving senior military officers to discuss the issue in press briefings and interviews.

For all the shortcomings of India’s democracy, its political leadership has long ensured that the military stays in its barracks and responds to civilian authority, unlike in most postcolonial states. But does the failure of India’s civilian leadership to take the lead in discussing the political and military strategy underlying its retaliatory response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April bode ill for the country’s civil-military relations?

This question........

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