To: The architects of India’s current national security doctrine, whose policies have become a cause for serious international concern. The detailed and alarming reports of India’s significant military and strategic failures are no longer mere whispers; they serve as a stark indictment of your leadership. Your administration has created an image of an all-powerful India, a nation capable of imposing its will through superior firepower and unwavering resolve. You asked your people—and the world—to believe in this vision. However, the accounts now circulating, even if only partially accurate, reveal a catastrophic gap between your proclaimed strength and the troubling reality of India’s operational deficiencies and serious miscalculations. Your continued silence in response to these allegations does not convey strength; instead, it confirms a devastating defeat.
You advocated for the acquisition of expensive, high-profile weapon systems like the Rafale jets and the S-400, presenting them as undeniable symbols of India’s power. However, what is your response to credible reports suggesting that these multi-billion-dollar investments may have been ineffective? These reports indicate that Rafales were “jammed and turned back” and that the S-400 failed to prevent widespread missile strikes on Indian military bases. While your public statements emphasised deterrence, the reality revealed by these analyses points to a significant vulnerability.
For years, your government fostered a climate where dissent was equated with disloyalty, where sycophantic media voices amplified a narrative of unquestioned supremacy. Now, analysts credibly assert that you “surrounded yourselves with mirrors—not advisers.” This resulted not in strength, but in a strategic delusion that led India into a disastrous military venture. Did you ever genuinely consider the possibility of failure, or was your decision-making so insulated by hubris that a realistic assessment of adversarial capabilities was impossible?
Your alleged decision to abrogate elements of the Indus Waters Treaty, a move tantamount to hydrological warfare, was not a demonstration of strength but of reckless provocation. Did you truly believe such an act would cower an adversary, or was it a desperate gambit born from a misreading of regional dynamics? Reports suggest it backfired spectacularly, eliciting a military response that your forces were unprepared for, leaving India internationally condemned and militarily humiliated. The notion that a “pauper state” would “crumble under one night of terror” has been exposed as a tragic fantasy.
The consequences of your miscalculations are severe. India’s conventional deterrence, a cornerstone of its regional policy, has been demonstrably shattered. Reports detail how an adversary, long dismissed by your analysts, employed a sophisticated, “doctrinal” defense that overwhelmed Indian forces. They showed not fragility, but resolve and advanced capability. You did not “teach a lesson”; your administration has presided over an engagement where India was schooled in the art of modern warfare by a more astute opponent.
The “strategic parity” that you so long denied Pakistan now appears to be an undeniable reality, achieved not through their economic might, but through your strategic blunders. India’s image as a reliable Quad partner is in tatters, with allies reportedly questioning the efficacy of Western-derived platforms against Chinese-integrated systems. What your leadership has delivered is not a stronger India, but an India whose military credibility is broken, whose deterrent posture is compromised, and whose strategic narrative lies in ruins. Confronting this truth, however painful, is the only way to begin rectifying the immense damage your policies have inflicted upon India’s standing. Your silence is an admission of this catastrophic failure.
