Congress Has A Terrible Track Record On National Security — Idea To Undo Agnipath Is Only The Latest Addition

Earlier this week, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge stated that if the party comes to power, it will undo the Agnipath policy for recruitment into the Indian military.

The Congress vows to overturn the new military recruitment policy comes after Rahul Gandhi's bizarre accusations that the Narendra Modi-led government's "Agnipath" scheme prioritises corporate interests over the well-being of soldiers.

However, the idea of withdrawing the Agnipath policy is only the latest in a series of decisions made by various Congress-led governments over the last six decades, that have had disastrous consequences for national security.

Here are several decisions previously made by the Congress that have adversely impacted national security.

(1) Misreading China's intentions in the 50s and 60s

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's decision to not see the Chinese as a serious military threat despite multiple warning signs ended in India losing the 1962 war.

From Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's letter about the invasion of Tibet to reports of China constructing a highway passing through Indian territory in Aksai Chin as early as 1951, these warning signs were ignored.

Despite this, Nehru made friendly overtures towards China, signing the Panchsheel Treaty of friendship, accepting their claims over Tibet, and propagating "Hindi-Chini bhai bhai" among the masses, all while misjudging China's true intentions.

When the realisation finally came after several clashes in 1959 and a subsequent Chinese buildup in the 1960s, India adopted a 'forward policy' without adequate planning and support, sending unprepared troops to unforgiving heights of 17,000 feet with no logistics support, hoping China would not attack.

Additionally, when the Chinese attacked (on 20 October 1962), the Indian Air Force (IAF) was not permitted to bomb the Chinese in support of the Indian Army.

(2) Indira Gandhi declining French offer to manufacture Mirage 2000s in India

After the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) purchased F-16 fighter jets from the United States, tilting the balance of air power in its favour, the Indian Air Force (IAF) procured Mirage 2000s from France.

The deal included provisions to manufacture an additional 110 jets in India with transfer of technology (ToT), which the Congress government led by Indira Gandhi chose to forgo.

Consequently, the IAF now faces challenges in maintaining the Mirage fleet, resorting to acquiring retired Mirage jets from other nations for spares. The Mirage has proven to be the most reliable jet in the IAF's inventory, as evidenced by its performance in the Kargil war and the Balakot air strikes.

Furthermore, India's decision to purchase Mig-29 fighters off-the-shelf from the Soviet Union added to the logistical complexities of managing the IAF's diverse inventory, including Mig-21s, Mig-23s, Mig-27s, Mig-29s, and Mirage-2000s.

(3) The Bofors jinx

Following reports of corruption and kickbacks in the Bofors artillery guns deal conducted by the Rajiv Gandhi-led government, the induction of artillery guns came to a halt.

The Bofors scandal cast a long shadow over artillery procurement, and for three decades, the Indian Army had to make do with Bofors and old 105mm Indian Field Guns (IFG) and variants until 2017 when India received shipments of M-777 155mm guns from the United States under a $885 million contract for 145 guns.

Successive Congress-led governments did little to break the jinx, so much so that the 12,000 design and technology documents supplied by Swedish firm Bofors as part of the deal inked by the Rajiv Gandhi government for 410 155mm Howitzers were put in the freezer.

(4) Lack of infrastructure building in border areas

A K Antony, Defence Minister, in the Manmohan Singh led Government has said in the parliament that the best defence was not to develop roads near the border to prevent the Chinese from crossing the Himalayan watershed and fan out into the plains, in an event of an attack.

Only, that this neglect and lack of roads also prevented Indian soldiers to patrol to the extremities of Indian territory.

This gave an opening to the Chinese which it exploited whole-heartedly, encroaching on Indian territory little by little, using its classic salami-slicing strategy.

It is only now, under the BJP-led government, that focus has been placed on border infrastructure, with construction underway at an intense pace following a doubling of the budget for the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

(5) Delaying the MMRCA contract

The Manmohan Singh government sat on the decision to procure 126 Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the IAF.

The prolonged delay in selecting the jet caused the cost to escalate significantly. By the time the government was ready to sign the contract, the projected cost had soared well beyond $20 billion, leading the defence ministry to cancel the project altogether.

It was only under the BJP government that a truncated deal for 36 Rafale jets from France was eventually signed. However, despite this procurement, the IAF still grapples with low squadron strength, between 30 to 31 squadrons, as opposed to the sanctioned 42.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also highlighted this when in 2019, he said, that the results of the skirmishes of 26 February (Balakot airstrike) and 27 February (Pakistan's retaliation) could have been different if the Indian pilots were flying the Rafale fighters.