Adaptive military engagement isn’t ideological capture

The accusation that General Dwivedi's personal temple visits or civic engagements constitute 'ideological signalling' reflects an overreach that borders on paranoia.

- ASHISH SINGH

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi during the Young Leaders Forum, a pre-event to the Indian Army's flagship Chanakya Defence Dialogue 2025, in New Delhi on 31 October. ANI

A recent opinion piece has raised alarms about an alleged "ideological fusion" within India's armed forces, accusing them of blurring the line between national defence and regime protection.

It paints a dark picture—of think tanks turned political platforms, of temple visits choreographed for optics, of military operations conveniently timed to aid electoral narratives. These are serious charges. Yet, on closer examination, what the critics describe as "ideological capture" is, in truth, the manifestation of an adaptive professionalism—a military evolving to meet the demands of multi-domain warfare, technological change, and national integration in a democratic framework.

From Operation Sindoor's swift retaliation against cross-border terrorism to the Veer Yuva Young Leaders Forum organised by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), the evidence suggests not politicisation but transformation—the armed forces' recalibration to engage an informed, participative society. According to a Press Information Bureau release dated 31 October 2025, the forum's objective was clear: "empowering youth for India's national security." Such outreach exemplifies strategic civic engagement, not partisan alignment.

In Ready, Relevant and Resurgent (Pentagon Press, 2025), Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan defines "civil-military fusion" not as an ideological symbiosis but as a structural necessity—the coordinated use of military, economic, and technological resources to secure India's national interests. Those invoking fears of politicisation mistake adaptation for capture, reform for regression.